Origin of Multiferroicity in MnWO4

Abstract

MnWO4 is regarded as a canonical example of multiferroic materials, where the multiferroic activity is caused by a spin-spiral alignment. We argue that, in reality, MnWO4 has two sources of the spin-spirality, which conflict with each other. One is the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interactions, reflecting the P2/c symmetry of the lattice. The P2/c structure of MnWO4 has an inversion center, that connects two Mn sublattices. Therefore, from the viewpoint of DM interactions, different Mn sublattices are expected to have opposite spin chirality. Another source is competing isotropic exchange interactions, which tend to form a spin-spiral texture with the same chirality in both magnetic sublattices. Thus, there is a conflict between DM and isotropic exchange interactions, which makes these two sublattices inequivalent and, therefore, breaks the inversion symmetry. Our theoretical analysis is based on the low-energy model, derived from the first-principles electronic structure calculations.

17 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (12)

• Spin current and magneto-electric effect in non-collinear magnets
• Ferroelectricity in spiral magnets
• Role of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in multiferroic perovskites
• Ferroelectric polarization flop in a frustrated magnet MnWO${}_4$ induced by magnetic fields
• A New Multiferroic Material: MnWO4
• Combining DFT and Many-Body Methods to Understand Correlated Materials
• Long-Range Magnetic Interactions in the Multiferroic Antiferromagnet $\mathrm{MnW}{\mathrm{O}}_4$
• Long-Range Magnetic Interactions Induced by the Lattice Distortions and the Origin of the E-type Antiferromagnetic Phase in the Undoped Orthorhombic Manganites
• Magnetic structure and ferroelectric polarization of MnWO4 investigated by density functional calculations and classical spin analysis
• Spin-spiral inhomogeneity as the origin of ferroelectricity in orthorhombic manganites
• Magnetic structure and ferroelectric activity in orthorhombic YMnO3: relative roles of magnetic symmetry breaking and atomic displacements
• Magnetic structure of noncentrosymmetric perovskites PbVO3 and BiCoO3

Cited by in corpus (17)

• Orbital magnetization of insulating perovskite transition-metal oxides with the net ferromagnetic moment in the ground state
• Exchange interactions of CaMnO3 in the bulk and at the surface
• Inelastic Neutron Scattering Studies of Phonon Spectra and Simulations in Tungstates, AWO4 (A = Ba, Sr, Ca and Pb)
• Infrared-active phonon modes in monoclinic multiferroic MnWO4
• Helicity, anisotropies and their competition in a multiferroic magnet: insight from the phase diagram
• Magnetically induced polarization in centrosymmetric bonds
• Improper magnetic ferroelectricity of nearly pure electronic nature in cycloidal spiral CaMn${}_7$O${}_{12}$
• Superexchange theory of electronic polarization driven by relativistic spin-orbit interaction at the half-filling
• Spin-Wave and Electromagnon Dispersions in Multiferroic MnWO4 as Observed by Neutron Spectroscopy: Isotropic Heisenberg Exchange versus Anisotropic Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction
• Strong magnetoelastic coupling at the transition from harmonic to anharmonic order in NaFe(WO${}_4$)${}_2$ with 3d${}^5$ configuration
• Domain dynamics in LiCuVO${}_4$: Evidence for polarized nanoregions
• Stabilization of the multiferroic spin cycloid in Ni${}_3$V${}_2$O${}_8$ by light Co-doping
• Ab-initio prediction of magnetoelectricity in infinite-layer CaFeO2 and MgFeO2
• Basic aspects of ferroelectricity induced by noncollinear alignment of spins
• Pressure effects on magnetic ground states in cobalt doped multiferroic Mn${}_{1-x}$Co${}_x$WO${}_4$
• Linear Response Based Theories for Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interactions
• The Löwdin orthogonalization and magnetoelectric coupling for noncentrosymmetric ions