Magnetoelectric effect due to local noncentrosymmetry

Abstract

Magnetoelectrics often possess ions located in noncentrosymmetric surroundings. Based on this fact we suggest a microscopic model of magnetoelectric interaction and show that the spin-orbit coupling leads to spin-dependent electric dipole moments of the electron orbitals of these ions, which results in non-vanishing polarization for certain spin configurations. The approach accounts for the macroscopic symmetry of the unit cell and is valid both for commensurate and complex incommensurate magnetic structures. The model is illustrated by the examples of MnWO4, MnPS3 and LiNiPO4. Application to other magnetoelectrics is discussed.

11 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables

References in corpus (11)

• Spin current and magneto-electric effect in non-collinear magnets
• Role of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in multiferroic perovskites
• Magnetically driven ferroelectric order in Ni${}_3$V${}_2$O${}_8$
• Ferroelectric polarization flop in a frustrated magnet MnWO${}_4$ induced by magnetic fields
• Magnetoelectric MnPS3 thiophosphate as a new candidate for ferrotoroidicity
• Erratum: Landau Analysis of the Symmetry of the Magnetic Structure and Magnetoelectric Interaction in Multiferroics [Phys. Rev. B 76, 05447 (2007)]
• Theory of magnetic switching of ferroelectricity in spiral magnets
• Field-induced magnetic phases and electric polarization in LiNiPO4
• Microscopic mechanisms of spin-dependent electric polarization in 3d oxides
• Directional magnetoelectric effects in MnWO4: magnetic sources of the electric polarization
• Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya antisymmetric exchange coupling in cuprates: Oxygen effects