Magnetoelectric coupling and decoupling in multiferroic hexagonal YbFeO<sub>3</sub> thin films
ORAL
Abstract
The coupling between ferroelectric and magnetic orders in multiferroic materials and the nature of magnetoelectric (ME) effects are enduring experimental challenges. In this work, we have studied the response of magnetization to ferroelectric switching in thin-film hexagonal YbFeO3, a paradigmatic improper multiferroic. The bulk ME decoupling and potential domain-wall ME coupling were revealed using X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements with in-situ ferroelectric polarization switching. Our Landau theory analysis suggests that the bulk ME-coupled ferroelectric switching path has a higher energy barrier than that of the ME-decoupled path; this extra barrier energy is also too high to be reduced by the magneto-static energy in the process of breaking single magnetic domains into multi-domains. In addition, the reduction of magnetization around the ferroelectric domain walls predicted by the Landau theory may induce the domain-wall ME coupling in which the magnetization is correlated with the density of ferroelectric domain walls.
–
Presenters
-
Xin Li
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Authors
-
Xin Li
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
-
Yu Yun
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
-
Xiaoshan Xu
Physics & Astronomy, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska-Lincoln