Magnetostriction-polarization coupling in multiferroic Mn2MnWO6

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 1 - 9
• Main Authors: Li, Man-Rong, McCabe, Emma E., Stephens, Peter W., Croft, Mark, Collins, Liam, Kalinin, Sergei V., Deng, Zheng, Retuerto, Maria, Sen Gupta, Arnab, Padmanabhan, Haricharan, Gopalan, Venkatraman, Grams, Christoph P., Hemberger, Joachim, Orlandi, Fabio, Manuel, Pascal, Li, Wen-Min, Jin, Chang-Qing, Walker, David, Greenblatt, Martha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 11.12.2017; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/301/119/996; 639/638/263/915; Antiferromagnetism; CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; Corundum; Coupling; Ferroelectrics and multiferroics; Humanities and Social Sciences; INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Low temperature; Magnetostriction; Magnets; MATERIALS SCIENCE; Microscopy; multidisciplinary; Multiferroic materials; Phase transitions; Polarization; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Second harmonic generation; Solid-state chemistry; Spectroscopy; Spintronics; Synthesis
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02003-3

Double corundum-related polar magnets are promising materials for multiferroic and magnetoelectric applications in spintronics. However, their design and synthesis is a challenge, and magnetoelectric coupling has only been observed in Ni 3 TeO 6 among the known double corundum compounds to date. Here we address the high-pressure synthesis of a new polar and antiferromagnetic corundum derivative Mn 2 MnWO 6 , which adopts the Ni 3 TeO 6 -type structure with low temperature first-order field-induced metamagnetic phase transitions ( T N  = 58 K) and high spontaneous polarization (~ 63.3 μC·cm −2 ). The magnetostriction-polarization coupling in Mn 2 MnWO 6 is evidenced by second harmonic generation effect, and corroborated by magnetic-field-dependent pyroresponse behavior, which together with the magnetic-field-dependent polarization and dielectric measurements, qualitatively indicate magnetoelectric coupling. Piezoresponse force microscopy imaging and spectroscopy studies on Mn 2 MnWO 6 show switchable polarization, which motivates further exploration on magnetoelectric effect in single crystal/thin film specimens. Double corundum-related polar magnets are promising for multiferroic and magnetoelectric applications in spintronics, but are limited by the challenging design and synthesis. Here the authors report the synthesis of Mn 2 MnWO 6 as well as its appealing multiferroic and magnetoelectric properties.