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Title: Giant Spin-Driven Ferroelectric Polarization in BiFeO 3 at Room Temperature

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters
 [1];  [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science & Technology Division

Although BiFeO3 is the most extensively investigated multiferroic material, its magnetoelectic couplings are barely understood. Here we report a thorough study of the magentoelectric (ME) couplings in spin-cycloidal buk BiFeO3 using first-principles calculations and microscopic spin-wave models compared with neutron-scattering measurements. We find that huge exchange-striction (ES) polarizations, i.e. the electric response of the magnetic exchange through ferroelectric and antiferrodistortive distortions, is giant enough to dominate over all other ME couplings. We show that BiFeO3 has a hidden record-high spin-driven polarization ( 3 C/cm2) at room-temperature. The huge ES polarizations can be tuned by coupling to the antiferrodistortive rotations.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)z; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1286779
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1225763
Journal Information:
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 115, Issue 20; ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 23 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (4)

New iron-based multiferroics with improper ferroelectricity journal May 2018
Investigation of new magnetoelastic and magnetic transitions accompanied with magnetoelectric coupling in $\boldsymbol {{\rm 0.1BiFeO_{3}{{\rm \mbox{--}}}0.9Sr(Fe_{0.5}Nb_{0.5})O_{3}}}$ multiferroic journal December 2019
Size-dependent bistability in multiferroic nanoparticles journal August 2019
Low-energy spin dynamics of orthoferrites AFeO$_3$ (A = Y, La, Bi) text January 2017