2025/12/15 by Arkadeb Pal, Pal, Arkadeb, P. H. Lee +27
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #FOS: Physical sciences #Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials #Multiferroics and related materials #Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2512.13387
openalex publication_date 2025/12/15 · openalex created_date 2025/12/17 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Low-dimensional magnetic systems based on honeycomb lattices provide a promising platform for exploring exotic quantum phenomena that emerge from the intricate interplay of competing spin, orbital, lattice, and dipolar degrees of freedom. Here, we present a comprehensive study of the layered honeycomb lattice antiferromagnet BiCrTeO6 using magnetization, specific heat, muon spin--relaxation (μSR) spectroscopy, dielectric, pyrocurrent, and high-resolution synchrotron X-ray diffraction (SXRD) measurements. Our results reveal an array of intriguing and strongly correlated phenomena, including two successive antiferromagnetic transitions at T\rm N1≈16 K and T\rm N2≈11 K, a pronounced magnetodielectric coupling effect, and ferroelectric order at T\rm N2. Consequently, this compound emerges as a new spin-driven multiferroic system. The SXRD analysis reveals a magnetoelastic-coupling-induced structural phase transition at T\rm N2, characterized by a symmetry lowering from P31c (163) to P31c (159), which likely triggers the onset of ferroelectricity. In addition to its low-temperature multiferroic behavior, the system exhibits dielectric relaxor characteristics at higher temperatures within the paramagnetic region (T<50 K), which is intrinsically linked to the antisite disorder of Cr and Te atoms.