The orthovanadate DyVO3 crystal, known to exhibit multiple structural, spin
and orbital ordering transitions, is presently investigated on the basis of
magnetization, heat capacity, resistivity, dielectric and polarization
measurements. Our main result is experimental evidence for the existence of
multiferroicity below a high TC of 108 K over a wide temperature range
including different spin-orbital ordered states. The onset of ferroelectricity
is found to coincide with the antiferromagnetic C-type spin ordering transition
taking place at 108 K, which indicates that DyVO3 belongs to type II
multiferroics exhibiting a coupling between magnetism and ferroelectricity.
Some anomalies detected on the temperature dependence of electric polarization
are discussed with respect to the nature of the spin-orbital ordered states of
the V sublattice and the degree of spin alignment in the Dy sublattice. The
orthovanadates RVO3 (R = rare earth or Y) form an important new category for
searching for high-TC multiferroics.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures, 68 references, one supplementary material,
Physical Review B, Published 23 July 201