Magneto-orbital helices as a route to coupling magnetism and ferroelectricity in multiferroic CaMn7O12

N.J. Perks (), R.D. Johnson, C. Martin, L.C. Chapon and P.G. Radaelli
Additional contact information
N.J. Perks: Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford
R.D. Johnson: Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford
C. Martin: Laboratoire CRISMAT, ENSICAEN, UMR F-6508 CNRS
L.C. Chapon: Institut Laue-Langevin
P.G. Radaelli: Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford

Nature Communications, 2012, vol. 3, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Orbital physics drives a rich phenomenology in transition-metal oxides, providing the microscopic underpinning for effects such as Colossal Magnetoresistance. In particular, magnetic and lattice degrees of freedom are coupled through orbital ordering, and it has long been hoped that this coupling could be exploited to create high-temperature multiferroics with large values of the electrical polarization. Here we report an unprecedented magneto-orbital texture in multiferroic CaMn7O12, found to give rise to the largest magnetically induced ferroelectric polarization measured to date. X-ray diffraction characterization of the structural modulation in these ‘magneto-orbital helices’, and analysis of magnetic exchange shows that orbital order is crucial in stabilising a chiral magnetic structure, thus allowing for electric polarization. Additionally, the presence of a global structural rotation enables the coupling between this polarization and magnetic helicity required for multiferroicity. These novel principles open up the possibility of discovering new multiferroics with even larger polarization and higher transition temperatures.

Date: 2012
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2294 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:3:y:2012:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms2294

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2294

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().