The linear magnetoelectric (ME) effect allows for the selection or switching between two antiferromagnetic (AFM) states via the application of large electric ($E$) and magnetic ($H$) fields. Once an AFM state is selected, it is preserved by an energy barrier, even when the fields are removed. Using a simple phenomenological model, we find that this energy barrier, needed to switch the AFM state, is proportional to the product of the $E$ and $H$ coercive fields $(EH)_{\rm C}$. We measured the field and temperature dependence of $(EH)_{\rm C}$ in LiCoPO$_4$ for two different field configurations, and the data show the temperature variation of $(EH)_{\rm C}\sim(T_{\rm N}-T)^{3/2}$ in good agreement with the model. We also investigated the dynamics of the AFM domain switching using pulsed $E$-field measurements. It was found that the coercive field $(EH)_{\rm C}$ follows a power-law frequency dependence and is well described in the framework of Ishibashi-Orihara model, implying 1-dimensional character of domain wall propagation.
The magnetic properties of the antiferromagnetic magnetoelectric single-crystals LiCoPO4 and LiNiPO4 were investigated using the SQUID-magnetometer. The magnetization was measured in a longitudinal experimental geometry (M // H) along the crystallographic axes a, b and c. The carried out investigations have shown that these compounds exhibit weak ferromagnetism. The weak ferromagnetic (WFM) moment is directed along the antiferromagnetic axis in both crystals. But the temperature behaviours of the weak ferromagnetic moments in LiCoPO4 and LiNiPO4 are different. The weak ferromagnetic moment in …
Inelastic neutron scattering (INS) experiments were performed to investigate the spin dynamics in magnetoelectric effect (ME) LiCoPO$_4$ single crystals. Weak dispersion was detected in the magnetic excitation spectra along the three principal crystallographic axes measured around the (0 1 0) magnetic reflection. Analysis of the data using linear spin-wave theory indicate that single-ion anisotropy in LiCoPO$_4$ is as important as the strongest nearest-neighbor exchange coupling. Our results suggest that Co$^{2+}$ single-ion anisotropy plays an important role in the spin dynamics of LiCoPO$_4$…
We have studied spin excitations in a single-domain crystal of antiferromagnetic LiCoPO4 by THz absorption spectroscopy. By analyzing the selection rules and comparing the strengths of the absorption peaks in the different antiferromagnetic domains, we found electromagnons and magnetoelectric spin resonances besides conventional magnetic-dipole active spin-wave excitations. Using the sum rule for the magnetoelectric susceptibility we determined the contribution of the spin excitations to all the different off-diagonal elements of the static magnetoelectric susceptibility tensor in zero as well…
Magnetic structures are investigated by means of neutron diffraction to shine a light on the intricate details that are believed to be key to understanding the magnetoelectric effect in LiCoPO$_4$ . At zero field, a spontaneous spin canting of $φ= 7(1)^{\circ}$ is found. The spins tilt away from the easy $b$-axis toward $c$. Symmetry considerations lead to the magnetic point group $m'_z$, which is consistent with the previously observed magnetoelectric tensor form and weak ferromagnetic moment along $b$. For magnetic fields applied along $a$, the induced ferromagnetic moment couples via the Dz…
The magnetic phase diagram of magnetoelectric LiCoPO$_4$ is established using neutron diffraction and magnetometry in fields up to 25.9T applied along the crystallographic $b$-axis. For fields greater than 11.9T the magnetic unit cell triples in size with propagation vector Q = (0, 1/3, 0). A magnetized elliptic cycloid is formed with spins in the $(b,c)$-plane and the major axis oriented along $b$. Such a structure allows for the magnetoelectric effect with an electric polarization along $c$ induced by magnetic fields applied along $b$. Intriguingly, additional ordering vectors Q $\approx$ (0…
Imaging antiferromagnetic domains in LiCoPO$_4$ via the optical magnetoelectric effect
Budapest University of Technology and Economics（布达佩斯技术与经济大学）；RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS)（理化学研究所新兴物质科学中心）；Leibniz IFW Dresden（莱布尼茨德累斯顿固体研究所）；University of Tokyo（东京大学）；Tokyo College, University of Tokyo（东京大学东京学院）；HUN-REN–BME Condensed Matter Physics Research Group, Budapest University of Technology and Economics（匈牙利研究与教育网络-布达佩斯技术与经济大学凝聚态物理研究组）；University of Augsburg（奥格斯堡大学）
The ultimate goal of multiferroic research is the development of new-generation non-volatile memory devices, the so-called magnetoelectric (ME) memories, where magnetic bits are controlled via electric fields without the application of electrical currents subject to dissipation. This low-power operation exploits the entanglement of the magnetization and the electric polarization coexisting in multiferroic materials. Here we demonstrate the optical readout of ME memory states in the antiferromagnetic (AFM) and antiferroelectric (AFE) LiCoPO$_4$, based on the strong absorption difference of THz …
The ground state of the frustrated A-site magnetic spinel CoAl2O4 has been a controversial issue whether it is a collinear antiferromagnetic ordering or a spiral spin - liquid state, as the ratio of the two competing interactions, J2/J1 lies close to the boundary between these two ground states. Here, we address the magnetic ground state in CoAl2O4 with different amount of Co2+/Al3+ site disorder from the study of magnetoelectric effect and Monte Carlo simulations. CoAl2O4 with low site disorder exhibits linear magnetoelectric effect below the magnetic ordering temperature. With increasing dis…
We have investigated the magnetic and dielectric properties of Ca$_2$CoSi$_2$O$_7$ crystal. The dielectricity and magnetism of Ca$_2$CoSi$_2$O$_7$ are strongly coupled below a canted antiferromagnetic transition temperature ($T_{\rm N}$): Magnetic fields induce electric polarization below $T_{\rm N}$. Interestingly, the magnetic-field-induced electric polarization is detected even without poling electric fields. Below $T_{\rm N}$, a canted antiferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition is induced by magnetic fields. The large magnetocapacitance is observed around $T_{\rm N}$. The origin of the larg…
Strongly correlated materials with multiple order parameters provide unique insights into the fundamental interactions in condensed matter systems and present opportunities for innovative technological applications. A class of antiferromagnetic honeycomb lattices compounds, A4B2O9 (A = Co, Fe, Mn; B = Nb, Ta), have been explored owing to the occurrence of linear magnetoelectricity. We observe a highly nonlinear magnetoelectric effect on single crystals of Co4Ta2O9 (CTO), distinctive from the linear behavior in the isostructural Co4Nb2O9. Ferroelectricity emerges primarily along the [110] direc…
Hexagonal perovskite 15R-BaMnO2.99 with a ratio of cubic to hexagonal layers of 1/5 in the unit cell is an antiferromagnetic insulator that orders at a Néel temperature TN = 220 K. Here we report structural, magnetic, dielectric and thermal properties of single crystal BaMnO2.99 and its derivatives BaMn0.97Li0.03O3 and Ba0.97K0.03MnO3. The central findings of this work are: (1) these materials possess a usually large, high-temperature magnetoelectric effect that amplifies the dielectric constant by more than an order of magnitude near their respective Néel temperature; (2) Li and K doping can …
Co4Ta2O9 exhibits a three-dimensional magnetic lattice based on the buckled honeycomb motif. It shows unusual magnetoelectric effects, including the sign change and non-linearity. These effects cannot be understood without the detailed knowledge of the magnetic structure. Herein, we report neutron diffraction and direction-dependent magnetic susceptibility measurements on Co4Ta2O9 single crystals. Below 20.3 K, we find a long-range antiferromagnetic order in the alternating buckled and flat honeycomb layers of Co2+ ions stacked along the c axis. Within experimental accuracy, the magnetic momen…
Hexagonal YMnO$_{3}$ is a prototype antiferromagnet which exhibits multiferroic behavior with the ferroelectric and magnetic transitions occurring at different temperatures. We observe an out-of-plane canting of the Mn$^{3+}$ magnetic moments using resonant X-ray diffraction (RXD) in a single crystal of this material. These canted moments result in the symmetry-forbidden (0,0,1) magnetic Bragg reflection, which is observed at the Mn $L_{2,3}$ absorption edges. We also observe an unexpected difference in the RXD spectral shapes at different temperatures. Using ab initio calculations, we explore…
Neutron scattering studies of single-crystal LiNiPO$_4$ reveal a spontaneous first-order commensurate-incommensurate magnetic phase transition. Short- and long-range incommensurate phases are intermediate between the high temperature paramagnetic and the low temperature antiferromagnetic phases. The modulated structure has a predominant antiferromagnetic component, giving rise to satellite peaks in the vicinity of the fundamental antiferromagnetic Bragg reflection, and a ferromagnetic component giving rise to peaks at small momentum-transfers around the origin at $(0,\pm Q,0)$. The wavelength …
Electric-field controlled exchange bias in a heterostructure composed of the ferromagnetic manganite La0.7Sr0.3MO3 and the ferroelectric antiferromagnetic BiFeO3 has recently been demonstrated experimentally. By means of a microscopic model Hamiltonian we provide a possible explanation of the origin of this magnetoelectric coupling. We find, in agreement with experimental results, a net ferromagnetic moment at the BiFeO3 interface. The induced ferromagnetic moment is the result of the competition between the e_g-electrons double exchange and the t_2g-spins antiferromagnetic superexchange that …
In this study, we investigate the magnetoelectric (ME) effect of the newly discovered antiferromagnetic (AFM) compound Ce$_{3}$TiBi$_{5}$ with a hexagonal structure (space group $P6_{3}$/$mcm$). In this system, Ce ions form zig-zag chains that extend along the $c$-axis. We focus on the lack of the local inversion symmetry at the Ce site, although the crystal structure has an inversion center. A theoretical study has predicted that magnetization can be induced by an electric current in the AFM ordering on the zig-zag chain. We conducted magnetization measurements on Ce$_{3}$TiBi$_{5}$ under an …
We have revisited the magnetic structure of manganese phosphorus trisulfide MnPS3 using neutron diffrac- tion and polarimetry. MnPS3 undergoes a transition toward a collinear antiferromagnetic order at 78 K. The resulting magnetic point-group breaks both the time reversal and the space inversion thus allowing a linear magnetoelectric coupling. Neutron polarimetry was subsequently used to prove that this coupling provides a way to manipulate the antiferromagnetic domains simply by cooling the sample under crossed magnetic and electrical fields, in agreement with the nondiagonal form of the magn…
This work reports on magnetic, dielectric, thermodynamic and magnetoelectric properties of Gd$_{1-x}$Y$_{x}$MnO$_{3}$, with 0 \leq x \leq 0.4, with emphasis on the (x, T) phase diagram, towards unraveling the role of the driving mechanisms in stabilizing both magnetic and ferroelectric orderings. The (x, T) phase diagram reflects the effect of lattice distortions induced by the substitution of $Gd^{3+}$ ion by smaller $Y^{3+}$ ion, which gradually unbalances the antiferromagnetic against the ferromagnetic exchange interactions, enabling the emergence of ferroelectricity for higher concentratio…
We report the discovery of linear magnetoelectric effect in the well-known green phase compound, Sm2BaCuO5, which crystallizes in the centrosymmetric orthorhombic (Pnma) structure. Magnetization and specific heat measurements reveal the long-range antiferromagnetic ordering of Cu2+ and Sm3+-ions moments at TN1 = 23 K and TN2 = 5 K, respectively. Applied magnetic field induces dielectric anomaly at TN1 whose magnitude increases with field, which results in significant (1.7%) magnetocapacitance effect. On the other hand, the dielectric anomaly observed in zero-applied magnetic field at TN2 shows…
Piezo-magnetoelectric effect, namely simultaneous induction of both the ferromagnetic moment and electric polarization by an application of uniaxial stress, was achieved in the non-ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic ground state of DyFeO$_3$. The induced electric polarization and ferromagnetic moment are coupled with each other, and monotonically increase with increasing uniaxial stress. The present work provides a new way to design spin-driven multiferroic states, that is, magnetic symmetry breaking forced by external uniaxial stress.
Elastic and inelastic neutron scattering studies reveal details of the antiferromagnetic tansition and intriguing spin-dynamics in the magneto-electric effect single crystal LiMnPO$_4$. The elastic scattering studies confirm the system is antiferromagnetic (AFM) below $T_N$=33.75 K with local magnetic moments (Mn$^{2+}$; $S = 5/2$) that are aligned along the crystallographic a-axis. The spin-wave dispersion curves propagating along the three principal axes, determined by inelastic scattering, are adequately modeled in the linear spin-wave framework assuming a spin-Hamiltonian that is parameter…
A detailed investigation of Ba$_2$MnGe$_2$O$_7$ was performed in its low-temperature magnetoelectric state combining neutron diffraction with magnetization measurements on single crystals. In the paramagnetic state at 10 K, polarized neutron diffraction was applied to reveal the components of the susceptibility tensor. The crystal and magnetic structures below the antiferromagnetic transition temperature of $T_N \approx 4$ K were determined using unpolarized neutron diffraction. This data implies no structural phase transition from 10 K down to 2.5 K and is well described within the tetragonal…
High-resolution neutron diffraction determination of noncollinear antiferromagnetic order in the honeycomb magnetoelectric Fe$_{4}$Nb$_{2}$O$_{9}$
Institute for Basic Science (IBS)（韩国基础科学研究院）；Yonsei University（延世大学）；Chonnam National University（全南国立大学）；Center for Integrated Nanostructure Physics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS)（韩国基础科学研究院集成纳米物理中心）；Sungkyunkwan University（成均馆大学）；Rutgers University（罗格斯大学）
In the present study, we investigated magnetodielectric, magnetoelectric (ME), and angular-dependent polarization in single-crystal Fe4Nb2O9. The magnetodielectric effects in epsilon(x) (x//[100]), epsilon(y) (y//[120]), and epsilon(z) (z//[001]) are found to be significant only around T-N approximate to 95 K when magnetic fields are applied along three orthogonal x-, y- (y//[120]), and z directions. The finite polarization P-x, P-y, and P-z of 70, 100, and 30 mu C/m(2), respectively, can be induced in the antiferromagnetic phase when a finite magnetic field up to 9 T is applied along the thre…
Obtaining strong magnetoelectric couplings in bulk materials and heterostructures is an ongoing challenge. We demonstrate that manganite heterostructures of the form ${\rm (Insulator)/(LaMnO_3)_n/(CaMnO_3)_n/(Insulator)}$ show strong multiferroicity in magnetic manganites where ferroelectric polarization is realized by charges leaking from ${\rm LaMnO_3}$ to ${\rm CaMnO_3}$ due to repulsion. Here, an effective nearest-neighbor electron-electron (electron-hole) repulsion (attraction) is generated by cooperative electron-phonon interaction. Double exchange, when a particle virtually hops to its …
The space and time symmetry breaking at magnetic phase transitions in multiferroics results in a number of strongly pronounced optical effects. Our high-resolution spectroscopic study of 3d- excitons in a complex multi-sublattice magnetoelectric CuB2O4 demonstrates that, among those, a large antiferromagnetic linear dichroism is observed which is highly sublattice-sensitive to subtle changes in the spin subsystems. We prove that the discovered linear dichroism is related microscopically to the magnetic Davydov splitting of the exciton states. We announce a novel magnetic phase transition and a…
All-optical control of antiferromagnetic domains via an inverse optical magnetoelectric effect
RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS)（RIKEN 新兴物质科学中心）；Institut für Festkörperforschung（固体研究所）；Department of Advanced Materials Science, The University of Tokyo（东京大学先进材料科学系）；Center for Electronic Correlations and Magnetism, University of Augsburg（奥格斯堡大学电子关联与磁性中心）；Tokyo College and department of Applied Physics, The University of Tokyo（东京大学东京学院与应用物理系）
Properties of two ThCr2Si2-type materials are discussed within the context of their established structural and magnetic symmetries. Both materials develop collinear, G-type antiferromagnetic order above room temperature, and magnetic ions occupy acentric sites in centrosymmetric structures. We refute a previous conjecture that BaMn2As2 is an example of a magnetoelectric material with hexadecapole order by exposing flaws in supporting arguments, principally, an omission of discrete symmetries enforced by the symmetry of sites used by Mn ions and, also, improper classifications of the primary an…
Single-crystal synchrotron x-ray diffraction measurements in strong magnetic fields have been performed for magnetoelectric compounds GdMnO3 and TbMnO3. It has been found that the P || a ferroelectric phase induced by the application of a magnetic field at low temperatures is characterized by commensurate lattice modulation along the orthorhombic b axis with q = 1/2 and q = 1/4. The lattice modulation is ascribed to antiferromagnetic spin alignment with a modulation vector of (0 1/4 1). The change of the spin structure is directly correlated with the magnetic-field-induced electric phase trans…
The infrared and Terahertz properties of GdMnO_3 have been investigated as function of temperature and magnetic field, with special emphasis on the phase boundary between the incommensurate and the canted antiferromagnetic structures. The heterogeneous incommensurate phase reveals strong magnetodielectric effects, characterized by significant magnetoelectric contributions to the static dielectric permittivity and by the existence of electrically excited magnons (electromagnons). In the commensurate canted antiferromagnetic phase the magnetoelectric contributions to the dielectric constant and …
All-electrical control of a dynamic magnetoelectric effect is demonstrated in a classical multiferroic manganite DyMnO3, a material containing coupled antiferromagnetic and ferroelectric orders. Due to intrinsic magnetoelectric coupling with electromagnons a linearly polarized terahertz light rotates upon passing through the sample. The amplitude and the direction of the polarization rotation are defined by the orientation of ferroelectric domains and can be switched by static voltage. These experiments allow the terahertz polarization to be tuned using the dynamic magnetoelectric effect.
Magnetoelectric properties of a coupled spin-electron model on a doubly decorated square lattice in an external electric field applied along the crystallographic axis [11] are rigorously examined with the help of generalized decoration-iteration transformation. The phase diagram, spontaneous magnetization and electric polarization are exactly calculated and their dependencies are comprehensively investigated under a concurrent influence of temperature and electric field. It is found that the electric field mostly stabilizes at zero temperature the spontaneous antiferromagnetic order with respe…
Magnetization measurements under direct electric currents were performed for toroidal magnetic ordered state of UNi$_4$B to test a recent theoretical prediction of current-induced magnetization in a metallic system lacking local inversion symmetry.We found that each of the electric currents parallel to [$2\bar{1}\bar{1}0$] and [$0001$] in the hexagonal 4-index notation induces uniform magnetization in the direction of [$01\bar{1}0$].The observed behavior of the induced magnetization is essentially consistent with the theoretical prediction; however it also shows an inconsistency suggesting tha…
We theoretically investigate an antiferromagnetic structure in a hexagonal zigzag-chain compound Ce$_3$TiBi$_5$, which shows a linear magnetoelectric effect in metals and an unfamiliar temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility. We find a partial magnetic order as a coexistence of a nonmagnetic zigzag chain and staggered antiferromagnetic zigzag chains. The latter accompany in-plane magnetic toroidal dipole moments which are responsible for the observed behaviors. We show that magnetic frustration arising from competing exchange interactions plays an important role to realize such a par…
Stimulated by recent studies of quantum phases with broken local inversion symmetry, we study the magnetoelectric effect in locally noncentrosymmetric metals. We consider three-dimensional (3D) coupled zigzag chains and demonstrate that the antiferromagnetic moment is induced by the electric current through a staggered antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling. This current-induced magnetism is much larger than that in globally noncentrosymmetric metals. We provide an intuitive understanding of the current-induced antiferromagnetic moment by showing the inverse magnetoelectric effect, that is, the fer…
We report a combined neutron scattering and magnetization study on the multiferroic DyFeO3 which shows a very strong magnetoelectric effect. Applying magnetic field along the c-axis, the weak ferromagnetic order of the Fe ions is quickly recovered from a spin reorientation transition, and the long-range antiferromagnetic order of Dy becomes a short-range one. We found that the short-range order concurs with the multiferroic phase and is responsible for its sizable hysteresis. Our H-T phase diagram suggests that the strong magnetoelectric effect in DyFeO3 has to be understood with not only the …
Multiferroic BaMnF$_4$ powder were prepared by hydrothermal method. Hysteretic field dependent magnetization curve at 5 K confirms the weak ferromagnetism aroused from the canted antiferromagnetic spins by magnetoelectric coupling. The blocking temperature of 65 K for exchange bias coincides well with the peak at 65 K in the zero-field cooled temperature-dependent magnetization curve, which has been assigned to the onset temperature of two-dimensional antiferromagnetism. An upturn kink of exchange field and coercivity with decreasing temperature was observed from 40 K to 20 K, which is consist…
Magnetization, magnetoresistance, and magnetodielectric measurements have been carried out on the half doped charge ordered manganite, Pr_0.5Ca_0.5MnO_3. The low temperature state is found to be strongly dependent on the oxygen stoichiometry whereas the high temperature state remains almost unaltered. A disorder driven phase separation in the low temperature state is noticed in the magnetic, magnetoresistance, and dielectric measurements which is attributed to the oxygen deficiency in the compound. A considerable magnetodielectric (MD) effect is noticed close to room temperature at 280 K which…
This work addresses the effect of substituting Mn$^{3+}$ by Fe$^{3+}$ at the octahedral site of TbMnO$_3$ on the magnetic phase sequence, ferroelectric and magnetoelectric properties, keeping the Fe$^{3+}$ concentration below 5%. The temperature dependence of the specific heat, dielectric permittivity and electric polarization was studied as a function of Fe$^{3+}$ concentration and applied magnetic field. From the experimental results a strong decrease of the electric polarization with increasing Fe$^{3+}$ substitution is observed, vanishing above a concentration of 4%. However, within this r…
A conventional and rotating magnetoelectric effect of a half-filled spin-electron model on a doubly decorated square lattice is investigated by exact calculations. An importance of the electron hopping and spatial orientation of the electric field upon a magnetoelectric effect is examined in detail. A critical temperature may display one or two consecutive round maxima as a function of the electric field. Although the rotating magnetoelectric effect (RME) does not affect the ground-state ordering, the pronounced RME is found close to a critical temperature of continuous phase transition. It is…
Obtaining strong magnetoelectric couplings in bulk materials and heterostructures is an ongoing challenge. We demonstrate that manganite heterostructures of the form ${\rm (Insulator)/(LaMnO_3)_n/(CaMnO_3)_n/(Insulator)}$ show strong multiferroicity in magnetic manganites where ferroelectric polarization is realized by charges leaking from ${\rm LaMnO_3}$ to ${\rm CaMnO_3}$ due to repulsion. Here, an effective nearest-neighbor electron-electron (electron-hole) repulsion (attraction) is generated by cooperative electron-phonon interaction. Double exchange, when a particle virtually hops to its …
We study theoretically a three-dimensional correlated and spin-orbit coupled system, the half-filled extended Fu-Kane-Mele-Hubbard model on a diamond lattice, focusing on the topological magnetoelectric response of the antiferromagnetic insulator phase. In the antiferromagnetic insulator phase, the Dirac-like low-energy effective Hamiltonian is obtained. Then the theta term, which results in the magnetoelectric response, is derived as a consequence of the chiral anomaly. The realization of the dynamical axion field in our model is discussed. The relation with a symmetry broken phase induced by…
Magnetic phase transitions in multiferroic bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) induced by magnetic field, epitaxial strain, and composition modification are considered. These transitions from a spatially modulated spin spiral state to a homogenous antiferromagnetic one are accompanied by the release of latent magnetization and a linear magnetoelectric effect that makes BiFeO3-based materials efficient room-temperature single phase multiferroics.
The magnetoelectric (ME) effects are investigated in a cubic compound SrCuTe2O6, in which uniform Cu2+ (S=1/2) spin chains with considerable spin frustration exhibit a concomitant antiferromagnetic transition and dielectric constant peak at TN=5.5 K. Pyroelectric Jp(T) and magnetoelectric current JME(H) measurements in the presence of a bias electric field are used to reveal that SrCuTe2O6 shows clear variations of Jp(T) across TN at constant magnetic fields. Furthermore, isothermal measurements of JME(H) also develop clear peaks at finite magnetic fields, of which traces are consistent with t…
Although several multiferroic materials/heterostructures have been extensively studied, finding strong magnetoelectric couplings for the electric field control of the magnetization remains challenging. Here, a novel interfacial magnetoelectric coupling based on three components (ferroelectric dipole, magnetic moment, and antiferromagnetic order) is analytically formulated. As an extension of carrier-mediated magnetoelectricity, the new coupling is shown to induce an electric-magnetic hysteresis loop. Realizations employing BiFeO$_3$ bilayers grown along the [$111$] axis are proposed. Without i…
We have recently reported that the Haldane spin-chain system, Er2BaNiO5, undergoing antiferromagnetic order below 32 K, is characterized by the onset of ferroelectricity near 60K due to magnetoelectric coupling induced by short-range magnetic-order within spin-chains. We have carried out additional magnetic and dielectric studies to understand the properties well below antiferromagnetic ordering temperature. We emphasize here on the following: (i) A strong frequency dependent behaviors of ac magnetic susceptibility and complex dielectric properties have been observed at much lower temperatures…
Antiferromagnetic and magnetoelectric Cr2O3-surfaces strongly affect the electronic properties in half metallic CrO2. We show the presence of a Cr2O3 surface layer on CrO3 grains by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The effect of these surface layers is demonstrated by measurements of the temperature variation of the magnetoelectric susceptibility. A major observation is a sign change at about 100 K followed by a monotonic rise as a function of temperature. These electric field induced moments in CrO3 are correlated with the magnetoelectric susceptibility of pure Cr2O3. This st…
Magnetic and magnetoelectric excitations in the multiferroic TbMnO_3 have been investigated at terahertz frequencies. Using different experimental geometries we can clearly separate the electro-active excitations (electromagnons) from the magneto-active modes, i.e. antiferromagnetic resonances (AFMR). Two AFMR resonances were found to coincide with electromagnons. This indicates that both excitations belong to the same mode and the electromagnons can be excited by magnetic ac-field as well. In external magnetic fields and at low temperatures distinct fine structure of the electromagnons appear…
The majority of magnetoelectric crystals show complex temperature-magnetic field or temperature-pressure phase diagrams with alternating antiferromagnetic incommensurate, magnetoelectric, and commensurate phases. Such phase diagrams occur as a result of successive magnetic instabilities with respect to different order parameters, which usually transform according to different irreducible representations (IR) of the space group of the crystal. Therefore, in order to build a phenomenological theory of phase transitions in such magnetoelectrics one has to employ several order parameters and assum…
