Fluctuation-enhanced magnetoelectric effect in hexagonal manganites
ORAL
Abstract
Intensive studies have been focused on enhancing magnetoelectric (ME) effect ever since Dzyaloshinskii and Astrov's seminal works on linear ME effect in Cr$_{\mathrm{2}}$O$_{\mathrm{3}}$. The coupling between the magnetic and electric dipoles in multiferroic and magnetoelectric materials holds promise of conceptually new electronic devices. Herein, we report on the Magnetoelectric Force Microscopy (MeFM) studies on the multiferroic hexagonal manganites. The direct visualization of the ME domains with topological vortex pattern provides compelling evidence for the mechanism of lattice-mediated ME response. Furthermore, our MeFM results reveal a diverging magnetoelectric effect in the vicinity of a tri-critical point, suggesting a possibility to enhance ME effects by harnessing critical fluctuations.
*This work is supported by DOE grant DE-SC0008147.
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Authors
Yanan Geng
Department of Physics and Astronomy and Rutgers Center for emergent materials, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA
Hena Das
School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
A.L. Wysocki
School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
Xueyun Wang
Department of Physics and Astronomy and Rutgers Center for emergent materials, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA
S-W. Cheong
Department of Physics and Astronomy and Rutgers Center for emergent materials, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA
M. Mostovoy
Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG, Groningen, Netherlands
Craig J. Fennie
School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
Weida Wu
Department of Physics and Astronomy and Rutgers Center for emergent materials, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA
