2007/08/16 by O. Prokhnenko, R. Feyerherm, Maxim Mostovoy +6 · 74 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Condensed matter physics #Coupling (piping) #Crystallography #Ferroelectricity #Ising model #Magnetic and transport properties of perovskites and related materials #Magnetic field #Magnetization #Materials science #Multiferroics #Multiferroics and related materials #Order (exchange) #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Spin (aerodynamics) #Spins #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.99.177206
published in Physical Review Letters 99(17), 177206 (American Physical Society) · 5 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2007/08/16 · openalex publication_date 2007/10/23 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We report on diffraction measurements on multiferroic TbMnO3 which demonstrate that the Tb- and Mn-magnetic orders are coupled below the ferroelectric transition TFE=28 K. For T<TFE the magnetic propagation vectors (\mathbit\ensuremathτ) for Tb and Mn are locked so that \mathbit\ensuremathτTb=\mathbit\ensuremathτMn, while below TNTb=7 K we find that \mathbit\ensuremathτTb and \mathbit\ensuremathτMn lock-in to rational values of (3)/(7)b* and (2)/(7)b*, respectively, and obey the relation 3\ensuremathτTb\ensuremath-\ensuremathτMn=1. We explain this novel matching of wave vectors within the frustrated anisotropic next-nearest-neighbor Ising model coupled to a periodic external field produced by the Mn-spin order. The \mathbit\ensuremathτTb=\mathbit\ensuremathτMn behavior is recovered when Tb magnetization is small, while the \ensuremathτTb=(3)/(7) regime is stabilized at low temperatures by a peculiar arrangement of domain walls in the ordered state of Ising-like Tb spins.