Multiferroicity and spiral magnetism in FeVO{sub 4} with quenched Fe orbital moments

Journal Article · Tue Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2009 · Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVB.80.220402· OSTI ID:21287115

Daoud-Aladine, A; Chapon, L C ^[1]; Kundys, B; Martin, C; Simon, C ^[2]; Radaelli, P G ^[1]; Brown, P J ^[3]

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1. ISIS facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, STFC, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX (United Kingdom)
2. Laboratoire CRISMAT-UMR, 6508 ENSI CAEN, 6, Marechal Juin, 14050 Caen (France)
3. Institut Laue-Langevin, 6 rue Jules Horowitz, BP 156, 38042 Grenoble Cedex 9 (France)

FeVO{sub 4} has been studied by heat capacity, magnetic susceptibility, electric polarization and single-crystal neutron-diffraction experiments. The triclinic crystal structure is made of S-shaped clusters of six Fe{sup 3+} ions, linked by VO{sub 4}{sup 3-} groups. Two long-range magnetic ordering transitions occur at T{sub N1}=22 K and T{sub N2}=15 K. Both magnetic structures are incommensurate and below T{sub N2}, FeVO{sub 4} becomes weakly ferroelectric coincidentally with the loss of the collinearity of the magnetic structure in a very similar fashion than in the classical TbMnO{sub 3} multiferroic material. However we argue that the symmetry considerations and the mechanisms invoked to explain these properties in TbMnO{sub 3} do not straightforwardly apply to FeVO{sub 4}. First, the magnetic structures, even the collinear structure, are all acentric so that ferroelectricity in FeVO{sub 4} is not correlated with the fact magnetic ordering is breaking inversion symmetry. Regarding the mechanism, FeVO{sub 4} has quenched orbital moments that questions the exact role of the spin-orbit interactions.

• OSTI ID: 21287115
• Journal Information: Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Vol. 80, Issue 22; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.80.220402; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1098-0121
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
FERROELECTRIC MATERIALS
IRON
IRON COMPOUNDS
IRON IONS
L-S COUPLING
MAGNETIC MOMENTS
MAGNETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY
MAGNETISM
MAGNETIZATION
MONOCRYSTALS
NEEL TEMPERATURE
NEUTRON DIFFRACTION
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLARIZATION
SPECIFIC HEAT
SPIN
SYMMETRY
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0013-0065 K
VANADIUM COMPOUNDS