2012/01/16 by P. Babkevich, A. Poole, R. D. Johnson +3 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.85.134428
published as Phys. Rev. B 85, 134428 (2012) · 7 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2012/01/16 · arxiv updated 2012/08/08
We have studied the high temperature multiferroic cupric oxide using polarized neutron diffraction as a function of temperature and applied electric field. We find that the chiral domain population can be varied using an external electric field applied along the b axis. Using representation analysis we derive the incommensurate magnetic structure in the multiferroic phase. The origin of the magnetoelectric coupling is consistent with models based on the inverse Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, but is different from the simple cycloidal mechanism.