Domain wall patterning and giant response functions in ferrimagnetic spinels

Abstract

The manipulation of mesoscale domain wall phenomena has emerged as a powerful strategy for designing ferroelectric responses in functional devices, but its full potential has not yet been realized in the field of magnetism. We show that mechanically strained samples of Mn${}_3$O${}_4$ and MnV${}_2$O${}_4$ exhibit a stripe-like patterning of the bulk magnetization below known magnetostructural transitions, similar to the structural domains reported in ferroelectric materials. Building off our previous magnetic force microscopy data, we use small angle neutron scattering to show that these patterns extend to the bulk, and demonstrate an ability to manipulate the domain walls via applied magnetic field and mechanical stress. We then connect these domains back to the anomalously large magnetoelastic and magnetodielectric response functions reported in these materials, directly correlating local and macroscopic measurements on the same crystals.

19 pages, 13 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Magnetodielectric coupling in Mn3O4
• Magnetic and orbital ordering in the spinel MnV2O4
• Magnetic order and ice rules in the multiferroic spinel FeV2O4
• Structural change and phase coexistence upon magnetic ordering in the magnetodielectric spinel Mn${}_3$O${}_4$
• Magnon spectra and strong spin-lattice coupling in magnetically frustrated MnB2O4 (B = Mn,V): Inelastic light scattering studies
• Domain wall patterning and giant response functions in ferrimagnetic spinels

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Domain wall patterning and giant response functions in ferrimagnetic spinels