2013/02/28 by Hena Das, Aleksander L. Wysocki, Yanan Geng +2 · 225 citations
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Chemistry #Condensed matter physics #Crystallography #Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials #Ferroelectricity #Ferromagnetism #Hexagonal crystal system #Magnetic field #Magnetization #Materials science #Multiferroics #Multiferroics and related materials #Physics #Polarization (electrochemistry) #Vortex #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/ncomms3998
published in Nature Communications 5(1), 2998 (Nature Portfolio) · 19 pages, 11 figures, 5 tables
arxiv created 2013/08/01 · openalex publication_date 2014/01/06 · arxiv updated 2015/06/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Improper ferroelectricity (trimerization) in the hexagonal manganites RMnO3 leads to a network of coupled structural and magnetic vortices that induce domain wall magnetoelectricity and magnetization neither of which, however, occurs in the bulk. Here we combined first-principles calculations, group-theoretic techniques, and microscopic spin models to show how the trimerization not only induces a polarization but also a bulk magnetization and bulk magnetoelectric (ME) effect. This results in the existence of a bulk linear ME vortex structure or a bulk ME coupling such that if direction of polarization reverses so does magnetization. To measure the predicted ME vortex, we suggest RMnO3 under large magnetic field. We suggest a family of materials, the hexagonal RFeO3 ferrites, also display the predicted phenomena in their ground state.