Electric field control of chiral magnetic domains in the high-temperature multiferroic CuO

TL;DR

This study demonstrates electric field control of chiral magnetic domains in high-temperature multiferroic CuO, revealing insights into its magnetic structure and magnetoelectric coupling mechanisms.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of electric field manipulation of chiral domains in CuO and clarifies the magnetic structure using representation analysis.

Findings

Electric field can switch chiral domain populations in CuO.

Magnetic structure derived from representation analysis.

Magnetoelectric coupling aligns with inverse Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya models.

Abstract

We have studied the high temperature multiferroic cupric oxide using polarized neutron diffraction as a function of temperature and applied electric field. We find that the chiral domain population can be varied using an external electric field applied along the b axis. Using representation analysis we derive the incommensurate magnetic structure in the multiferroic phase. The origin of the magnetoelectric coupling is consistent with models based on the inverse Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, but is different from the simple cycloidal mechanism.