Electric Control of Spin Helicity in a Magnetic Ferroelectric

Magnetic ferroelectrics or multiferroics, which are currently extensively explored, may provide a good arena to realize a novel magnetoelectric function. Here we demonstrate the genuine electric control of the spiral magnetic structure in one of such magnetic ferroelectrics, TbMnO3. A spin-polarized neutron scattering experiment clearly shows that the spin helicity, clockwise or counter-clockwise, is controlled by the direction of spontaneous polarization and hence by the polarity of the small cooling electric field.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Electronic Structures of CaAlSi with Different Stacking AlSi Layers by First-Principles Calculations

The full-potential linear augmented plane-wave calculations have been applied to investigate the systematic change of electronic structures in CaAlSi due to different stacking sequences of AlSi layers. The present ab-initio calculations have revealed that the multistacking, buckling and 60 degrees rotation of AlSi layer affect the electronic band structure in this system. In particular, such a structural perturbation gives rise to the disconnected and cylindrical Fermi surface along the M-L lines of the hexagonal Brillouin zone. This means that multistacked CaAlSi with the buckling AlSi layers increases degree of two-dimensional electronic characters, and it gives us qualitative understanding for the quite different upper critical field anisotropy between specimens with and without superstructure as reported previously.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jp

High-pressure synthesis of Ba2RhO4, a rhodate analog of the layered perovskite Sr-ruthenate

A layered perovskite-type oxide Ba2RhO4 was synthesized by a high-pressure technique with the support of convex-hull calculations. The crystal and electronic structure were studied by both experimental and computational tools. Structural refinements for powder x-ray diffraction data showed that Ba2RhO4 crystallizes in a K2NiF4-type structure, isostructural to Sr2RuO4 and Ba2IrO4. Magnetic, resistivity, and specific-heat measurements for polycrystalline samples of Ba2RhO4 indicate that the system can be characterized as a correlated metal. Despite the close similarity to its Sr2RuO4 counterpart in the electronic specific-heat coefficient and the Wilson ratio, Ba2RhO4 shows no signature of superconductivity down to 0.16 K. Whereas the Fermi surface topology has reminiscent pieces of Sr2RuO4, an electronlike eg-(dx2-y2) band descends below the Fermi level, making this compound unique also as a metallic counterpart of the spin-orbit coupled Mott insulator Ba2IrO4

Size of Orbital Ordering Domain Controlled by the Itinerancy of the 3d Electrons in a Manganite Thin Film

An electronic effect on a macroscopic domain structure is found in a strongly correlated half-doped manganite film Nd$_{0.5}$Sr$_{0.5}$MnO3 grown on a (011) surface of SrTiO3. The sample has a high-temperature (HT) phase free from distortion above 180K and two low-temperature (LT) phases with a large shear-mode strain and a concomitant twin structure. One LT phase has a large itinerancy (A-type), and the other has a small itinerancy (CE-type), while the lattice distortions they cause are almost equal. Our x ray diffraction measurement shows that the domain size of the LT phase made by the HT-CE transition is much smaller than that by the HT-A transition, indicating that the difference in domain size is caused by the electronic states of the LT phases.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure