2010/04/30 by R. P. Chaudhury, B. Lorenz, Yilin Sun +5
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Crystal Structures and Properties #Multiferroics and related materials #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.81.220402
published as Phys. Rev. B 81, 220402(R) (2010) · 4 pages, 5 figures
arxiv created 2010/06/02 · openalex publication_date 2010/06/02 · arxiv updated 2010/06/04 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The magnetic properties, the magnetostriction, and the magnetoelectric effect in the d-electron free rare-earth aluminum borate TmAl3(BO3)4 are investigated between room temperature and 2 K. The magnetic susceptibility reveals a strong anisotropy with the hexagonal c axis as the hard magnetic axis. Magnetostriction measurements show a large effect of an in-plane field reducing both the a-axis and c-axis lattice parameters. The magnetoelectric polarization change in a and c directions reaches up to 300 \ensuremathμC/m2 at 70 kOe with the field applied along the a axis. The magnetoelectric polarization is proportional to the lattice contraction in magnetic field. The results of this investigation prove the existence of a significant coupling between the rare-earth magnetic moment and the lattice in RAl3(BO3)4 compounds (R=rare earth). They further show that the rare-earth moment itself will generate a large magnetoelectric effect which makes it easier to study and to understand the origin of the magnetoelectric interaction in this class of materials.