Direct Visualization of Irreducible Ferrielectricity in Crystals

Abstract

In solids, charge polarity can one-to-one correspond to spin polarity phenomenologically, e.g. ferroelectricity/ferromagnetism, antiferroelectricity/antiferromagnetism, and even dipole-vortex/magnetic-vortex, but ferrielectricity/ferrimagnetism kept telling a disparate story in microscopic level. Since the definition of a charge dipole involves more than one ion, there may be multiple choices for a dipole unit, which makes most ferrielectric orders equivalent to ferroelectric ones, i.e. this ferrielectricity is not necessary to be a real independent branch of polarity. In this work, by using the spherical aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope, we visualize a nontrivial ferrielectric structural evolution in BaFe2Se3, in which the development of two polar sub-lattices is out-of-sync, for which we term it as irreducible ferrielectricity. Such irreducible ferrielectricity leads to a non-monotonic behavior for the temperature-dependent polarization, and even a compensation point in the ordered state. Our finding unambiguously distinguishes ferrielectrics from ferroelectrics in solids.

arXiv comment15 figures

References in corpus (17)

• Magnetism and its microscopic origin in iron-based high-temperature superconductors
• Experimental demonstration of hybrid improper ferroelectricity and presence of abundant charged walls in (Ca,Sr)${}_3$Ti${}_2$O${}_7$ crystals
• Phase Separation and Magnetic Order in K-doped Iron Selenide Superconductor
• Iron Displacements and Magnetoelastic Coupling in the Spin-Ladder Compound BaFe2Se3
• Orbital Selective Magnetism in the Spin-Ladder Iron Selenides Ba${}_{1-x}$K${}_x$Fe${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Block magnetism coupled with local distortion in the iron-based spin-ladder compound BaFe2Se3
• Anisotropy in BaFe2Se3 single crystals with double chains of FeSe tetrahedra
• BaFe${}_2$Se${}_3$: a high $T_{\mathrm{C}}$ magnetic multiferroic with large ferrielectric polarization
• Frustrated Dipole Order Induces Noncollinear Proper Ferrielectricity in Two Dimensions
• Sequential structural and antiferromagnetic transitions in BaFe${}_2$Se${}_3$ under pressure
• Synthesis, crystal and magnetic structure of iron selenide BaFe2Se3 with possible superconductivity at Tc=11K
• Block Antiferromagnetism and Checkerboard Charge Ordering in Alkali-doped Iron Selenides $R$${}_{1-x}$Fe${}_{2-y}$Se${}_2$
• Crystal Structure of BaFe2Se3 as a Function of Temperature and Pressure: Phase Transition Phenomena and High-Order Expansion of Landau Potential
• Ferroelectric Ferrimagnetic LiFe${}_2$F${}_6$: Charge Ordering Mediated Magnetoelectricity
• Polar State induced by Block-type Lattice Distortions in BaFe2Se3 with Quasi-One-Dimensional Ladder Structure
• Independent ferroelectric contributions and rare-earth-induced polarization reversal in multiferroic TbMn2O5
• Ferrielectricity in an Organic Ferroelectric

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Structure and magnetic properties of the $S=3/2$ zigzag spin chain antiferromagnet BaCoTe${}_2$O${}_7$
• Electric Field Control of Spin Orbit Coupling and Circular Photogalvanic Effect in a True Ferrielectric Crystal
• Purely antiferromagnetic frustrated Heisenberg model in spin ladder compound BaFe${}_2$Se${}_3$
• Direct evidence for intermediate multiferroic phase in LiCuFe2(VO4)3