Relaxor ferroelectricity and the freezing of short-range polar order in magnetite

Abstract

A thorough investigation of single crystalline magnetite using broadband dielectric spectroscopy and other methods provides evidence for relaxor-like polar order in Fe3O4. We find long-range ferroelectric order to be im-peded by the continuous freezing of polar degrees of freedom and the formation of a tunneling-dominated glasslike state at low temperatures. This also explains the lack of clear evidence for a non-centrosymmetric crystal structure below the Verwey transition. Within the framework of recent models assuming an intimate relation of charge and polar order, the charge order, too, can be speculated to be of short-range type only and to be dominated by tunneling at low temperatures.

16 pages, 4 figures, final version with revisions according to referee demands

References in corpus (4)

• Multiferroics: different ways to combine magnetism and ferroelectricity
• New phase transition in $P{r}_{1-x}C{a}_{x}Mn{O}_3$ system: evidence for electrical polarization in charge ordered manganites
• High-energy photoemission on Fe3O4: Small polaron physics and the Verwey transition
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• On the complexity of spinels: Magnetic, electronic, and polar ground states
• Magnetodielectric Properties in Two Dimensional Magnetic Insulators