Magnetic field control of cycloidal domains and electric polarization in multiferroic BiFeO${}_3$

Abstract

The magnetic field induced rearrangement of the cycloidal spin structure in ferroelectric mono-domain single crystals of the room-temperature multiferroic BiFeO${}_3$ is studied using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The cycloid propagation vectors are observed to rotate when magnetic fields applied perpendicular to the rhombohedral (polar) axis exceed a pinning threshold value of $\sim$5\,T. In light of these experimental results, a phenomenological model is proposed that captures the rearrangement of the cycloidal domains, and we revisit the microscopic origin of the magnetoelectric effect. A new coupling between the magnetic anisotropy and the polarization is proposed that explains the recently discovered magnetoelectric polarization to the rhombohedral axis.

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Direct coupling of ferromagnetic moment and ferroelectric polarization in BiFeO${}_3$
• Strain engineering a multiferroic monodomain in thin-film BiFeO${}_3$
• The Magnetoelastic Distortion of Multiferroic BiFeO${}_3$ in the Canted Antiferromagnetic State
• Observation by SANS and PNR of pure Néel-type domain wall profiles and skyrmion suppression below room temperature in magnetic [Pt/CoFeB/Ru]${}_{10}$ multilayers
• Selection rules and dynamic magnetoelectric effect of the spin waves in multiferroic BiFeO${}_3$