Magneto and ferroelectric phase transitions in HoMn2O5 monocrystals

From the physical point of view multiferroics present an extremely interesting class of systems and problems. These are essentially of two kinds. One is what are the microscopic conditions, and sometimes constrains, which determine the possibility to combine in one system both magnetic and ferroelectric properties. This turned out to be a quite nontrivial question, and usually, in conventional systems, these two phenomena tend to exclude one another. Why it is the case is an important and still not completely resolved issue. In the present article we report our results from magnetic properties measurements on HoMn2O5 with short discussion about it possible origin

Theory of the magnetoeletric effect in a lightly doped high-Tc cuprate

In a recent study Viskadourakis et al. discovered that extremely underdoped La_2CuO_(4+x) is a relaxor ferroelectric and a magnetoelectric material at low temperatures. It is further observed that the magnetoelectric response is anisotropic for different directions of electric polarization and applied magnetic field. By constructing an appropriate Landau theory, we show that a bi-quadratic magnetoelectric coupling can explain the experimentally observed polarization dependence on magnetic field. This coupling leads to several novel low-temperature effects including a feedback enhancement of the magnetization below the ferroelectric transition, and a predicted magnetocapacitive effect.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

An Effective Model of Magnetoelectricity in Multiferroics RMn2O5RMn_2O_5

An effective model is developed to explain the phase diagram and the mechanism of magnetoelectric coupling in multiferroics, $RMn_2O_5$. We show that the nature of magnetoelectric coupling in $RMn_2O_5$ is a coupling between two Ising-type orders, namely, the ferroelectric order in the b axis, and the coupled magnetic order between two frustrated antiferromagnetic chains. The frustrated magnetic structure drives the system to a commensurate-incommensurate phase transition, which can be understood as a competition between a collinear or col-plane order stemming from the `order by disorder' mechanism and a chiral symmetry order. The low energy excitation is calculated and the effect of the external magnetic field is analyzed. Distinct features in the electromagnon spectrums in the incommensurate phase are predicted

Bi-quadratic magnetoelectric coupling in underdoped La_2CuO_{4+x}

The recent discovery of relaxor ferroelectricity and magnetoelectric effect in lightly doped cuprate material La_2CuO_{4+x} has provided a number of questions concerning its theoretical description. It has been argued using a Ginzburg-Landau free energy approach that the magnetoelectric effect can be explained by the presence of bi-quadratic interaction terms in the free energy. Here, by using the same free energy functional, we study the variety of behavior which can emerge in the electric polarization under an external magnetic field. Subsequently, we discuss the role of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in generating this magnetoelectric response. This work is particularly relevant for such relaxor systems where the material-dependent parameters would be affected by changes in e.g. chemical doping or cooling rate.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1112.152

Magnetic properties of (Fe1−x_{1-x}Cox_x)2_2B alloys and the effect of doping by 5dd elements

We have explored, computationally and experimentally, the magnetic properties of \fecob{} alloys. Calculations provide a good agreement with experiment in terms of the saturation magnetization and the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy with some difficulty in describing Co$_2$B, for which it is found that both full potential effects and electron correlations treated within dynamical mean field theory are of importance for a correct description. The material exhibits a uniaxial magnetic anisotropy for a range of cobalt concentrations between $x=0.1$ and $x=0.5$. A simple model for the temperature dependence of magnetic anisotropy suggests that the complicated non-monotonous temperature behaviour is mainly due to variations in the band structure as the exchange splitting is reduced by temperature. Using density functional theory based calculations we have explored the effect of substitutional doping the transition metal sublattice by the whole range of 5$d$ transition metals and found that doping by Re or W elements should significantly enhance the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy. Experimentally, W doping did not succeed in enhancing the magnetic anisotropy due to formation of other phases. On the other hand, doping by Ir and Re was successful and resulted in magnetic anisotropies that are in agreement with theoretical predictions. In particular, doping by 2.5~at.\% of Re on the Fe/Co site shows a magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy which is increased by 50\% compared to its parent (Fe$_{0.7}$Co$_{0.3}$)$_2$B compound, making this system interesting, for example, in the context of permanent magnet replacement materials or in other areas where a large magnetic anisotropy is of importance.Comment: 15 pages 17 figure