Magnetoelectric behavior of domain walls in multiferroic HoMnO3 -: art. no. 220407

Local magnetoelectric interactions are revealed as origins of a recently reported coupling between ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic orders in multiferroic HoMnO(3). Temperature and field-dependent topography of the antiferromagnetic domain structure evidences massive formation of "spin-rotation domains" which supplement "spin-reversal domains" in the course of a reorientation of Mn(3+) spins. The corresponding domain walls decrease the local magnetic symmetry, thus allowing magnetoelectric coupling between wall magnetization and ferroelectric polarization which modifies the dielectric function.