Search Results
Magnetoelastic coupling and ferromagnetic-type in-gap spin excitations in multiferroic α-Cu2V2O7
2018, Wang, L., Werner, J., Ottmann, A., Weis, R., Abdel-Hafiez, M., Sannigrahi, J., Majumdar, S., Koo, C., Klingeler, R.
We investigate magnetoelectric coupling and low-energy magnetic excitations in multiferroic α-Cu2V2O7 by detailed thermal expansion, magnetostriction, specific heat and magnetization measurements in magnetic fields up to 15 T and by high-field/high-frequency electron spin resonance studies. Our data show negative thermal expansion in the temperature range ≤200 K under study. Well-developed anomalies associated with the onset of multiferroic order (canted antiferromagnetism with a significant magnetic moment and ferroelectricity) imply pronounced coupling to the structure. We detect anomalous entropy changes in the temperature regime up to ∼80 K which significantly exceed the spin entropy. Failure of Grüneisen scaling further confirms that several dominant ordering phenomena are concomitantly driving the multiferroic order. By applying external magnetic fields, anomalies in the thermal expansion and in the magnetization are separated. Noteworthy, the data clearly imply the development of a canted magnetic moment at temperatures above the structural anomaly. Low-field magnetostriction supports the scenario of exchange-striction driven multiferroicity. We observe low-energy magnetic excitations well below the antiferromagnetic gap, i.e., a ferromagnetic-type resonance branch associated with the canted magnetic moment arising from Dzyaloshinsii-Moriya (DM) interactions. The anisotropy parameter meV indicates a sizeable ratio of DM- and isotropic magnetic exchange.
Giant multiferroic effects in topological GeTe-Sb2Te3 superlattices
2015, Tominaga, Junji, Kolobov, Alexander V., Fons, Paul J., Wang, Xiaomin, Saito, Yuta, Nakano, Takashi, Hase, Muneaki, Murakami, Shuichi, Herfort, Jens, Takagaki, Yukihiko
Multiferroics, materials in which both magnetic and electric fields can induce each other, resulting in a magnetoelectric response, have been attracting increasing attention, although the induced magnetic susceptibility and dielectric constant are usually small and have typically been reported for low temperatures. The magnetoelectric response usually depends on d-electrons of transition metals. Here we report that in [(GeTe)2(Sb2Te3)l]m superlattice films (where l and m are integers) with topological phase transition, strong magnetoelectric response may be induced at temperatures above room temperature when the external fields are applied normal to the film surface. By ab initio computer simulations, it is revealed that the multiferroic properties are induced due to the breaking of spatial inversion symmetry when the p-electrons of Ge atoms change their bonding geometry from octahedral to tetrahedral. Finally, we demonstrate the existence in such structures of spin memory, which paves the way for a future hybrid device combining nonvolatile phase-change memory and magnetic spin memory.