Multiferroicity induced by dislocated spin-density waves

Abstract

We uncover a new pathway towards multiferroicity, showing how magnetism can drive ferroelectricity without relying on inversion symmetry breaking of the magnetic ordering. Our free-energy analysis demonstrates that any commensurate spin-density-wave ordering with a phase dislocation, even if it is collinear, gives rise to an electric polarization. Due to the dislocation the electronic and magnetic and inversion centers do not coincide, which turns out to be a sufficient condition for multiferroic coupling. The novel mechanism explains the formation of multiferroic phases at the magnetic commensurability transitions, such as the ones observed in YMn${}_2$O${}_5$ and related compounds. We predict that in these multiferroics an oscillating electrical polarization is concomitant with the uniform polarization. On the basis of our theory we put forward new types of magnetic materials that are potentially ferroelectric.

4 pages, Phys. Rev. Letters, in press

References in corpus (14)

• Spin current and magneto-electric effect in non-collinear magnets
• Weak ferromagnetism and magnetoelectric coupling in bismuth ferrite
• Ferroelectricity in spiral magnets
• Role of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in multiferroic perovskites
• Magnetically driven ferroelectric order in Ni${}_3$V${}_2$O${}_8$
• Relaxor ferroelectricity and colossal magnetocapacitive coupling in ferromagnetic CdCr2S4
• Ferroelectric polarization flop in a frustrated magnet MnWO${}_4$ induced by magnetic fields
• Spin structure and magnetic frustration in multiferroic RMn2O5 (R = Tb, Ho, Dy)
• Charge and orbital order in half-doped manganites
• Ferroelectricity induced by acentric spin-density waves in YMn${}_2$O${}_5$
• A New Multiferroic Material: MnWO4
• Double-exchange via degenerate orbitals
• Structural Anomalies at the Magnetic and Ferroelectric Transitions in $RM{n}_2{O}_5$ (R=Tb, Dy, Ho)
• Theory of Coexisting Charge and Spin-Density Waves in (TMTTF)_2Br, (TMTSF)_2PF_6 and alpha-(BEDT-TTF)_2MHg(SCN)_4

Cited by in corpus (41)

• Multiferroicity, The coupling between magnetic and polarization
• Multiferroicity due to charge ordering
• Erratum: Landau Analysis of the Symmetry of the Magnetic Structure and Magnetoelectric Interaction in Multiferroics [Phys. Rev. B 76, 05447 (2007)]
• Theoretical prediction of multiferroicity in double perovskite Y${}_2$NiMnO${}_6$
• Switching the Ferroelectric Polarization by External Magnetic Fields in the Spin = 1/2 Chain Cuprate LiCuVO4
• Optical coupling to spin waves in the cycloidal multiferroic BiFeO3
• New phase transition in $P{r}_{1-x}C{a}_{x}Mn{O}_3$ system: evidence for electrical polarization in charge ordered manganites
• Polar phonons and spin excitations coupling in multiferroic BiFeO3 crystals
• Electronic correlations decimate the ferroelectric polarization of multiferroic HoMn2O5
• Magnetically induced electronic ferroelectricity in half-doped manganites
• First-principles study of the lattice and electronic structures of TbMn${}_2$O${}_5$
• Complex Spin Structures and Origin of the Magneto-Electric Coupling in YMn2O5
• Non-resonant and Resonant X-ray Scattering Studies on Multiferroic TbMn2O5
• Microscopic mechanisms of spin-dependent electric polarization in 3d oxides
• Magnetic excitations in multiferroic LuMnO3 studied by inelastic neutron scattering
• Magnetoelectric effects in single crystals of the cubic ferrimagnetic helimagnet Cu2OSeO3
• Magnetic structure and magnetoelectric coupling in bulk and thin film FeVO${}_4$
• Magnetic structure of the field-induced multiferroic GdFe3(BO3)4
• Spin amplitude modulation driven magnetoelectic coupling in the new multiferroic FeTe${}_2$O${}_5$Br
• Effect of Inversion Symmetry on Incommensurate Order in Multiferroic RMn2O5, R=rare earth
• An x-ray resonant diffraction study of multiferroic DyMn2O5
• The incommensurate magnetic structure of YMn2O5: a stringent test of the multiferroic mechanism
• Multiferroicity due to nonstoichiometry in the chain cuprate LiVCuO_4
• Colossal magnetocapacitive effect in differently synthesized and doped CdCr2S4
• Order Parameters and Phase Diagram of Multiferroic RMn${}_2$O${}_5$
• Muon-spin relaxation and heat capacity measurements on the magnetoelectric and multiferroic pyroxenes LiFeSi2O6 and NaFeSi2O6
• Order Parameters and Phase Diagrams of Multiferroics
• Microscopic mechanisms of spin-dependent electric polarization in 3d oxides
• Direct experimental evidence of multiferroicity in a nanocrystalline Zener polaron ordered manganite
• Electromagnon excitations in modulated multiferroics
• The Magnetic Structure of DyMn2O5 Determined by Resonant X-ray Scattering
• Spin-spiral states in undoped manganites
• Theory of magnetic field-induced metaelectric critical end point in BiMn${}_2$O${}_5$
• Electron-lattice coupling contributions to polarization switching in charge-order-induced ferroelectrics
• Magnetoelectricity induced by rippling of magnetic nanomembranes and wires
• The effect of transverse magnetic correlations on a coupled order parameter: shifted transition temperatures and thermal hysteresis
• Theory of surface-induced multiferroicity in magnetic materials, thin films and multilayers
• Evidence of magnetoelectronic electromagnon mediated transport in flexoelectronic heterostructures
• Flexomagnetoelectric Interaction in Cubic, Tetragonal and Orthorhombic Crystals
• Interlayer charge transfer from contact electrification in conducting micro and nanoscale thin film heterostructures
• Micromagnetic structures: flexomagnetoelectric coupling point symmetry and Neumann's principle