Reinvestigation of the linear magnetoelectric effect in Cr$_{2}$O$_{3}$ single crystals

Cr$_{2}$O$_{3}$ is not only the first experimentally confirmed magnetoelectric compound but also a rare example compound in which the magnetoelectric effect occurs at room temperature. It is worthwhile to revisit this compound from the standpoint of recently developed ``multiferroic'' where electric and magnetic orders coexist. Thus, we grew single crystals of Cr$_{2}$O$_{3}$ and measured their magnetodielectric and magnetoelectric effects. We found that the temperature dependence of the dielectric constant measured in a magnetic field shows a sharp peak around Neel temperature 307 K. Furthermore, we observed that the electric polarization induced by a magnetic field is reversed by sweeping an electric field at room temperature. In this talk, we present our experimental results on electric and magnetic properties in Cr$_{2}$O$_{3}$, and discuss the origins from current point of view.