Magnetism and magnetoelectricity in the polar oxide α-Cu2V2O7

• Published in: Europhysics letters Vol. 113; no. 2; pp. 27007 - 27012
• Main Authors: Lee, Y.-W., Jang, T.-H., Dissanayake, S. E., Lee, Seunghun, Jeong, Yoon H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Les Ulis EDP Sciences, IOP Publishing and Società Italiana di Fisica 01.01.2016; IOP Publishing
• Subjects: 75.10.-b; 75.25.-j; 75.85.+t; Antiferromagnetism; Electric polarization; Ferromagnetism; Magnetic domains; Magnetic properties; Magnetic structure; Neutron diffraction; Physical properties; Polarization (spin alignment); Polycrystals; Single crystals; Spin-orbit interactions
• ISSN: 0295-5075; 1286-4854
• DOI: 10.1209/0295-5075/113/27007

Single crystals of the orthorhombic polar oxide α-Cu2V2O7 with space group Fdd2 are synthesized and their physical properties are measured. Neutron powder diffraction is also performed on a polycrystal sample to extract the magnetic structure. The ground state is shown to be weakly ferromagnetic, that is, collinearly antiferromagnetic in the a-direction with a small remanent magnetization in the c-direction. When an external magnetic field is applied in the c-direction, further spin canting, accompanied by the induced electric polarization, occurs. It is demonstrated that the magnetoelectric effect in α-Cu2V2O7 is adequately described if spin-dependent hybridization due to spin-orbit coupling as well as magnetic domain effects are simultaneously taken into account. We discuss the implication of the present result in the search for materials with multiferroicity and/or magnetoelectricity.