Effects of Electric Field on the magnetic structure of multiferroic (Sm,Bi)FeO3 films

BiFeO3 is a multiferroic, which is ordered at room temperature. In this compound, the magnetic and ferroelectric domains are coupled and magnetic domains can be switched with an electric field [1]. It has recently been found that doping Sm onto the Bi site drives the system from rhombohedral to orthorhombic ordering [2]. Near the phase boundary, application of an electric field can drive the material between the two structures. We found that the magnetic structure [4] is different across the boundary. In this talk, I share recent neutron diffraction results on the magnetic structure of (Sm,Bi)FeO3 thin films under electric field. [1] T. Zhao, A. Scholl, F. Zavaliche, K. Lee, M. Barry, A. Doran, M. P. Cruz, Y. H. Chu, C. Ederer, N. A. Spaldin, R. R. Das, D. M. Kim, S. H. Baek, C. B. Eom, and R. Ramesh, Nature Materials \textbf{5}, 823 (2006). [2] Daisuke Kan, Ching-Jung Cheng, Valanoor Nagarajan, Ichiro Takeuchi \textbf{110}, 014106 (2011) [3] Daisuke Kan, Lucia Palova, Varatharajan Anbusathaiah, Ching Jung Cheng, Shigehiro Fujino, Valanoor Nagarajan, Karin M. Rabe, Ichiro Takeuchi, Adv. Funct. Mater. \textbf{20}, 1108 (2010). [4] Shingo Maruyama, Varatharajan Anbusathaiah, Amy Fennell, Mechthild Enderle, Ichiro Takeuchi, William D. Ratcliff, APL Mater. \textbf{2}, 116106 (2014).