The ferroelectric semiconductor α-SnTe has been regarded as a topological crystalline insulator, and the dispersion of its surface states has been intensively measured with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) over the past decade. However, much less attention has been given to the impact of the ferroelectric transition on its electronic structure, and in particular on its bulk states. Here, we investigate the low-energy electronic structure of α-SnTe with ARPES and follow the evolution of the bulk-state Rashba splitting as a function of temperature, across its ferroelectric critical temperature of about Tc ≈ 110 K. Unexpectedly, we observe a persistent band splitting up to room temperature, which is consistent with an order-disorder contribution of local dipoles to the phase transition that requires the presence of fluctuating dipoles above Tc. We conclude that no topological surface state can occur under these conditions at the (111) surface of SnTe, at odds with recent literature.

Department of Physics and Fribourg Center for Nanomaterials Université de Fribourg Fribourg 1700 Switzerland

Institut für Halbleiter und Festkörperphysik Johannes Kepler Universität Linz 4040 Austria

Institut Jean Lamour UMR 7198 CNRS Université de Lorraine Campus ARTEM 2 allée André Guinier BP 50840 Nancy 54011 France

Institute of Physics Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Lausanne 1015 Switzerland

New Technologies Research Center University of West Bohemia Plzeň 301 00 Czech Republic

Photon Science Division Paul Scherrer Institut Villigen 5232 Switzerland

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