Impact of the various spin and orbital ordering processes on multiferroic properties of orthovanadate DyVO3

TL;DR

This study provides experimental evidence that DyVO3 exhibits multiferroicity below 108 K, with ferroelectricity coupled to antiferromagnetic spin ordering, highlighting its potential as a high-temperature multiferroic material.

Contribution

It demonstrates the coexistence and coupling of magnetic and electric orderings in DyVO3, a rare orthovanadate, across multiple spin and orbital phases, with detailed measurements.

Findings

Multiferroicity observed below 108 K.

Ferroelectricity coincides with antiferromagnetic transition.

Anomalies linked to spin-orbital states and Dy sublattice.

Abstract

The orthovanadate DyVO3 crystal, known to exhibit multiple structural, spin and orbital ordering transitions, is presently investigated on the basis of magnetization, heat capacity, resistivity, dielectric and polarization measurements. Our main result is experimental evidence for the existence of multiferroicity below a high TC of 108 K over a wide temperature range including different spin-orbital ordered states. The onset of ferroelectricity is found to coincide with the antiferromagnetic C-type spin ordering transition taking place at 108 K, which indicates that DyVO3 belongs to type II multiferroics exhibiting a coupling between magnetism and ferroelectricity. Some anomalies detected on the temperature dependence of electric polarization are discussed with respect to the nature of the spin-orbital ordered states of the V sublattice and the degree of spin alignment in the Dy sublattice. The orthovanadates RVO3 (R = rare earth or Y) form an important new category for searching for high-TC multiferroics.