A. M. Kadomtseva

Phase transitions in multiferroic BiFeO3 crystals, thin-layers, and ceramics: enduring potential for a single phase, room-temperature magnetoelectric ‘holy grail’

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 tghe release of latent magnetization and a linear magnetoelectric effect that makes BiFeO3-based materials efficient room-temperature single phase multiferroics.

Magnetoelectric effects in gadolinium iron borate GdFe3(BO3)4

Magnetoelectric interactions have been investigated in a single crystal of gadolinium iron borate GdFe3(BO3)4, whose macroscopic symmetry is characterized by the crystal class 32. Using the results of this study, the interplay of magnetic and electric orderings occurring in the system has been experimentally revealed and theoretically substantiated. The electric polarization and magnetostriction of this material that arise in spin-reorientation transitions induced by a magnetic field have been investigated experimentally. For H ‖ c and H ⊥ c, H-T phase diagrams have been constructed, and a strict correlation between the changes in the magnetoelectric and magnetoelastic properties in the observed phase transitions has been ascertained. A mechanism of specific noncollinear antiferroelectric ordering at the structural phase transition point was proposed to interpret the magnetoelectric behavior of the system within the framework of the symmetry approach in the entire temperature range. This ordering provides the conservation of the crystal class of the system when the temperature decreases to the antiferroelectric ordering point. The expressions that have been obtained for the magnetoelectric and magnetoelastic energy describe reasonably well the behavior of gadolinium iron borate observed experimentally.

Magnetoelectric and magnetoelastic properties of rare-earth ferroborates

The magnetic, electric, magnetoelectric, and magnetoelastic properties of rare-earth ferroborates RFe3(BO3)4 (R=Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er) as well as yttrium ferroborate YFe3(BO3)4 have been studied comprehensively. A strong dependence not only of the magnetic but also magnetoelectric properties on the type of rare-earth ion, specifically, on its anisotropy, which determines the magnetic structure and the large contribution to the electric polarization, has been found. This is manifested in the strong temperature dependence of the polarization below the Neel point TN and its specific field dependence, which is determined by the competition between the external and exchange f-d fields. A close correlation has been found between the magnetoelastic properties of ferroborates and the magnetoelastic and magnetic anomalies at magnetic-field induced phase transitions. It is found that in easy-plane ferroborates, together with magnetic-field induced electric polarization spontaneous polarization also ari...

Discovery of the linear magnetoelectric effect in magnetic ferroelectric BiFeo3 in a strong magnetic field

Abstract The discovery of a new magnetic field induced phase transition between the space-modulated spin structure (SMSS) and the homogeneous antiferromagnetic state (HAFS) is reported. This phase transition is accompanied by large magnetoelectric (ME) anomalies. It is well known that BiFeO, shows the ferroelectric ordering (T c = 1083 K) and antiferromagnetic ordering (T N = 673 K). ME properties of BiFeO3 so far remain a challenging experimental and theoretical problem. While the crystal symmetry of BiFeO3 allows a linear ME effect, it cannot be observed because the antiferromagnetic order of BiFeO3 is SMSS (cycloid). We show that there is a Lifshits invariant, which decreases the ground state energy and induces the SMSS. In a high magnetic field the energy of the HAFS decreases more rapidly than the energy of the SMSS. Hence the field induced phase transition between SMSS and HAFS is possible. We stress that a large variation of the ME effect is expected at the transition due to a rising linear ME cont...

Magnetoelectric and magnetoelastic interactions in NdFe3(BO3)4 multiferroics

Complex experimental and theoretical investigations of the magnetic, magnetoelectric, and magnetoelastic properties of neodymium iron borate NdFe3(BO3)4 along various crystallographic directions have been carried out in strong pulsed magnetic fields up to 230 kOe in a temperature range of 4.2–50 K. It has been found that neodymium iron borate, as well as gadolinium iron borate, is a multiferroic. It has a much larger (above 300 μC/m2) electric polarization controlled by the magnetic field and giant quadratic magnetoelectric effect. The exchange field between the rare-earth and iron subsystems (∼50 kOe) has been determined for the first time from experimental data. The theoretical analysis based on the magnetic symmetry and quantum properties of the Nd ion in the crystal provides an explanation of the unusual behavior of the magnetoelectric and magnetoelastic properties of neodymium iron borate in strong magnetic fields and correlation observed between them.

Features of the magnetoelectric properties of BiFeO3 in high magnetic fields

It is shown that the destruction of the cycloidal structure of the magnetic ferroelectric BiFeO3 by a high magnetic field (Hn≈200 kOe) leads to the onset of a linear magnetoelectric effect and the appearance of a toroidal moment. The proof of the existence of a toroidal moment T in a high magnetic field (H>Hn) is based on the experimental observation that the off-diagonal components of the linear ME effect tensor are asymmetric (α12=−α21 for L‖c, where L is the antiferromagnetic vector), inasmuch as Tz∼α12−α21.

Magnetoelectric effect and toroidal ordering in Ga2−xFexO3

The field dependence of the magnetoelectric effect and longitudinal magnetostriction of Ga2−xFexO3 single crystals is studied in magnetic fields up to 200 kOe in the temperature range from 4.2 to 300 K. It is shown that the magnetoelectric effect in these materials is determined mainly by the toroidal moment T and is not related to magnetostriction, as was previously theorized. A new method for determining the toroidal moment by measuring the electric polarization in a strong magnetic field is proposed. The value of the toroidal moment of the unit cell in Ga1.15Fe0.85O3 is calculated: T=(Ta,0,0), where Ta=24.155µB Å per unit cell. Experimental data are analyzed using a theory of toroidal spin ordering, which gives good agreement with experiment.

Spin density wave and field induced phase transitions in magnetoelectric antiferromagnets

Abstract An investigation was done of the field induced phase transition from the spatially modulated spin structures to the homogeneous antiferromagnetic state in magnetic ferroelectrics R x Bi 1− x FeO 3 (R = La, Nd) and magnetoelectrics Fe x Cr 2− x O 3 in pulsed magnetic field up to 30 T. It has been found that this transition is accompanied by a large change in the magnitude of the magnetoelectric effect. In contrast to the R x Bi 1− x FeO 3 , where the linear magnetoelectric effect appears in strong magnetic fields ( H > H c ) in Fe x Cr 2− x O 3 such effect exists in the low-field phase ( H H c ). This is associated with the different character of the spatially modulated spin structure in these materials (cycloid structure in R x Bi 1− x FeO 3 and cone spiral in Fe x Cr 2− x O 3 ).

Colossal magnetodielectric effect in SmFe3(BO3)4 multiferroic

The colossal (more than threefold) decrease in the dielectric constant ɛ in the easy-plane SmFe3(BO3)4 ferroborate in a magnetic field of ∼5 kOe applied in the basal ab plane of the crystal has been found. A close relation of this effect to anomalies in the field dependence of the electric polarization has been established. It has been shown that this magnetodielectric effect is due to the contribution to ɛ from the electric susceptibility, which is related to the rotation of spins in the ab plane, arises in the region of the antiferromagnetic ordering T < TN = 33 K, and is suppressed by the magnetic field. A theoretical model describing the main features of the behavior of ɛ and electric polarization in the magnetic field has been proposed, taking into account the additional anisotropy in the basal plane induced by the magnetoelastic stresses.

Features of the magnetoelectric behavior of the family of multiferroics RMn2O5 at high magnetic fields (Review)

The family of multiferroics comprised of the orthorhombic manganates RMn2O5 (R=Eu,Gd,Er,Y), in which the coexistence of antiferromagnetism and ferroelectricity has been reported previously, is investigated at high magnetic fields. These compounds, unlike the members of the family RMnO3 (where R=Eu,Ge,Tb,Dy) have two subsystems of magnetic mixed-valence d ions Mn3+ and Mn4+, the direct and indirect interactions between which, being of the ferro- or antiferromagnetic type, depending on the particulars of the environment and properties of the rare-earth ions, enhance substantially the role of the frustrations observed in RMnO3 compounds. These systems, as a consequence of the specific combination of the additional magnetic degeneracy realized in them (due to competition between nearest- and next-nearest-neighbor interactions of nearly equal magnitude) and their strong magnetoelastic coupling, display a cascade of magnetic phase transitions, with the appearance/disappearance of incommensurate (modulated) magn...