Structural and electronic origin of the magnetic structures in hexagonal LuFeO3

Abstract:

Using combined theoretical and experimental approaches, we studied the structural and electronic origin of the magnetic structure in hexagonal LuFeO3. Besides showing the strong exchange coupling that is consistent with the high magnetic ordering temperature, the previously observed spin reorientation transition is explained by the theoretically calculated magnetic phase diagram. The structural origin of this spin reorientation that is responsible for the appearance of spontaneous magnetization, is identified by theory and verified by x-ray diffraction and absorption experiments.

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http://astro.temple.edu/~xifanwu/Papers/2014.PRB.Structural%20and%20electronic%20origin%20of%20the%20magnetic%20structures%20in%20hexagonal%20LuFeO3.pdf

INTRODUCTION

 While the ferroelectricity in materials is naturally connected to structural distortions that break the spatial inversion symmetry [1,2], the relation between spontaneous magnetization and structure is not obvious because no spatial symmetry is broken by ferromagnetism (FM). Nevertheless, magnetic orderings in a material are tied to the structure, and the ties are particularly important in multiferroic materials [3] in which structural distortions may mediate couplings between ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism or even generate ferroelectric ferromagnets, which are extremely rare.