Spin-Canting-Induced Improper Ferroelectricity and Spontaneous Magnetization Reversal in SmFeO3

被引：346

作者：

Lee, Jung-Hoon ^{[1
,2
]}

Jeong, Young Kyu ^{[1
,2
]}

Park, Jung Hwan ^{[1
,2
]}

Oak, Min-Ae ^{[1
,2
]}

Jang, Hyun Myung ^{[1
,2
,3
]}

Son, Jong Yeog ^{[4
]}

Scott, James F. ^{[5
]}

机构：

[1] Pohang Univ Sci & Technol, Dept Mat Sci & Engn, Pohang 790784, South Korea

[2] Pohang Univ Sci & Technol, Div Adv Mat Sci, Pohang 790784, South Korea

[3] Pohang Univ Sci & Technol, Dept Phys, Pohang 790784, South Korea

[4] Kyung Hee Univ, Coll Appl Sci, Dept Appl Phys, Suwon 446701, South Korea

[5] Univ Cambridge, Cavendish Lab, Dept Phys, Cambridge CB3 0HE, England

来源：

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS | 2011年 / 107卷 / 11期

关键词：

POLARIZATION; FIELD;

D O I：

10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.117201

中图分类号：

O4 [物理学];

学科分类号：

0702 ;

摘要：

SmFeO3, a family of centrosymmetric rare-earth orthoferrites, is known to be nonferroelectric. However, we have found that SmFeO3 is surprisingly ferroelectric at room temperature with a small polarization along the b axis of Pbnm. First-principles calculations indicate that the canted antiferromagnetic ordering with two nonequivalent spin pairs is responsible for this extraordinary polarization and that the reverse Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction dominates over the exchange-striction mechanism in the manifestation of the improper ferroelectricity. SmFeO3 further exhibits an interesting phenomenon of spontaneous magnetization reversal at cryogenic temperatures. This reversal is attributed to the activation of the Sm-spin moment which is antiparallel to the Fe-spin moment below similar to 5 K.

引用

页数：5

共 25 条

[1] Electric-field-induced structural modulation of epitaxial BiFeO3 multiferroic thin films as studied using X-ray microdiffraction [J].