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Coupled multiferroic domain switching in the canted conical spin spiral system Mn(2)GeO(4)

Despite remarkable progress in developing multifunctional materials, spin-driven ferroelectrics featuring both spontaneous magnetization and electric polarization are still rare. Among such ferromagnetic ferroelectrics are conical spin spiral magnets with a simultaneous reversal of magnetization and...

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Autores principales: Honda, T., White, J. S., Harris, A. B., Chapon, L. C., Fennell, A., Roessli, B., Zaharko, O., Murakami, Y., Kenzelmann, M., Kimura, T.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5465321/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28580933
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15457
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author Honda, T.
White, J. S.
Harris, A. B.
Chapon, L. C.
Fennell, A.
Roessli, B.
Zaharko, O.
Murakami, Y.
Kenzelmann, M.
Kimura, T.
author_facet Honda, T.
White, J. S.
Harris, A. B.
Chapon, L. C.
Fennell, A.
Roessli, B.
Zaharko, O.
Murakami, Y.
Kenzelmann, M.
Kimura, T.
author_sort Honda, T.
collection PubMed
description Despite remarkable progress in developing multifunctional materials, spin-driven ferroelectrics featuring both spontaneous magnetization and electric polarization are still rare. Among such ferromagnetic ferroelectrics are conical spin spiral magnets with a simultaneous reversal of magnetization and electric polarization that is still little understood. Such materials can feature various multiferroic domains that complicates their study. Here we study the multiferroic domains in ferromagnetic ferroelectric Mn(2)GeO(4) using neutron diffraction, and show that it features a double-Q conical magnetic structure that, apart from trivial 180(o) commensurate magnetic domains, can be described by ferromagnetic and ferroelectric domains only. We show unconventional magnetoelectric couplings such as the magnetic-field-driven reversal of ferroelectric polarization with no change of spin-helicity, and present a phenomenological theory that successfully explains the magnetoelectric coupling. Our measurements establish Mn(2)GeO(4) as a conceptually simple multiferroic in which the magnetic-field-driven flop of conical spin spirals leads to the simultaneous reversal of magnetization and electric polarization.
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spelling pubmed-54653212017-06-22 Coupled multiferroic domain switching in the canted conical spin spiral system Mn(2)GeO(4) Honda, T. White, J. S. Harris, A. B. Chapon, L. C. Fennell, A. Roessli, B. Zaharko, O. Murakami, Y. Kenzelmann, M. Kimura, T. Nat Commun Article Despite remarkable progress in developing multifunctional materials, spin-driven ferroelectrics featuring both spontaneous magnetization and electric polarization are still rare. Among such ferromagnetic ferroelectrics are conical spin spiral magnets with a simultaneous reversal of magnetization and electric polarization that is still little understood. Such materials can feature various multiferroic domains that complicates their study. Here we study the multiferroic domains in ferromagnetic ferroelectric Mn(2)GeO(4) using neutron diffraction, and show that it features a double-Q conical magnetic structure that, apart from trivial 180(o) commensurate magnetic domains, can be described by ferromagnetic and ferroelectric domains only. We show unconventional magnetoelectric couplings such as the magnetic-field-driven reversal of ferroelectric polarization with no change of spin-helicity, and present a phenomenological theory that successfully explains the magnetoelectric coupling. Our measurements establish Mn(2)GeO(4) as a conceptually simple multiferroic in which the magnetic-field-driven flop of conical spin spirals leads to the simultaneous reversal of magnetization and electric polarization. Nature Publishing Group 2017-06-05 /pmc/articles/PMC5465321/ /pubmed/28580933 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15457 Text en Copyright © 2017, The Author(s) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Honda, T.
White, J. S.
Harris, A. B.
Chapon, L. C.
Fennell, A.
Roessli, B.
Zaharko, O.
Murakami, Y.
Kenzelmann, M.
Kimura, T.
Coupled multiferroic domain switching in the canted conical spin spiral system Mn(2)GeO(4)
title Coupled multiferroic domain switching in the canted conical spin spiral system Mn(2)GeO(4)
title_full Coupled multiferroic domain switching in the canted conical spin spiral system Mn(2)GeO(4)
title_fullStr Coupled multiferroic domain switching in the canted conical spin spiral system Mn(2)GeO(4)
title_full_unstemmed Coupled multiferroic domain switching in the canted conical spin spiral system Mn(2)GeO(4)
title_short Coupled multiferroic domain switching in the canted conical spin spiral system Mn(2)GeO(4)
title_sort coupled multiferroic domain switching in the canted conical spin spiral system mn(2)geo(4)
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5465321/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28580933
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15457
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