Room-temperature multiferroic hexagonal LuFeO$_3$ films

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that hexagonal LuFeO$_3$ films exhibit coexisting ferroelectric and magnetic orders at room temperature, making them promising multiferroic materials for technological applications.

Contribution

The paper provides detailed structural and magnetic characterization of hexagonal LuFeO$_3$ films, establishing their multiferroic properties at room temperature for the first time.

Findings

Polar structure persists up to 1050 K

Ferroelectricity switchable at room temperature

Antiferromagnetic order below 440 K with spin reorientation

Abstract

The crystal and magnetic structures of single-crystalline hexagonal LuFeO$_3$ films have been studied using x-ray, electron and neutron diffraction methods. The polar structure of these films are found to persist up to 1050 K; and the switchability of the polar behavior is observed at room temperature, indicating ferroelectricity. An antiferromagnetic order was shown to occur below 440 K, followed by a spin reorientation resulting in a weak ferromagnetic order below 130 K. This observation of coexisting multiple ferroic orders demonstrates that hexagonal LuFeO$_3$ films are room-temperature multiferroics.