2008/03/31 by H. J. Xiang, Hongjun Xiang, Su‐Huai Wei +4 · 2 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Magnetic and transport properties of perovskites and related materials #Multiferroics and related materials #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.101.037209
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 037209 (2008)
arxiv created 2008/07/18 · openalex publication_date 2008/07/18 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The magnetic and ferroelectric (FE) properties of TbMnO3 are investigated on the basis of relativistic density functional theory calculations. We show that, due to spin-orbit coupling, the spin-spiral plane of TbMnO3 can be either the bc or ab plane, but not the ac plane. As for the mechanism of FE polarization, our work reveals that the "pure electronic" model by Katsura, Nagaosa, and Balatsky is inadequate in predicting the absolute direction of FE polarization. Our work indicates that to determine the magnitude and the absolute direction of FE polarization in spin-spiral states, it is crucial to consider the displacements of the ions from their centrosymmetric positions.