1210.6373 (Q. Zhang et al.)

Impact of the complex spin and orbital ordering processes on
multiferroic properties of orthovanadate DyVO3    [PDF]

Q. Zhang, K. Singh, C. Simon, L. D. Tung, G. Balakrishnan, V. Hardy

Multiferroics exhibit the coexistence of magnetism and ferroelectricity. As a new class of multiferroics, spin driven ferroelectricity in which a certain magnetic ordering breaks inversion symmetry and therefore induces ferroelectricity, has recently been discovered. However, the ferroelectric Curie temperatures in such materials are usually lower than liquid nitrogen temperature and the ferroelectricity in such materials usually exhibits only one anomaly with respect to the temperature due to the related sole magnetic transition. Here, we demonstrate the existence of ferroelectricity with high TC of 108 K in DyVO3 and the ferroelectricity in DyVO3 over a wide temperature region shows striking multiple anomalies, which is discussed with respect to the nature of the spin-orbital ordered states of the V sublattice and the degree of spin alignment in the Dy sublattice. Our studies open an important new family to search for high-TC multiferroics in the category of orthovanadates RVO3 (R=rare earch and Y).

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.6373