Piezo-Magnetoelectric Effect of Spin Origin in Dysprosium Orthoferrite

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that applying uniaxial stress to DyFeO₃ induces coupled ferromagnetic and electric polarization states, revealing a new method to engineer spin-driven multiferroic properties through external mechanical stress.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to create spin-driven multiferroic states by externally breaking magnetic symmetry with uniaxial stress in DyFeO₃.

Findings

Electric polarization increases monotonically with stress.

Ferromagnetic moment is coupled with electric polarization.

New pathway for designing multiferroic materials.

Abstract

Piezo-magnetoelectric effect, namely simultaneous induction of both the ferromagnetic moment and electric polarization by an application of uniaxial stress, was achieved in the non-ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic ground state of DyFeO$_3$. The induced electric polarization and ferromagnetic moment are coupled with each other, and monotonically increase with increasing uniaxial stress. The present work provides a new way to design spin-driven multiferroic states, that is, magnetic symmetry breaking forced by external uniaxial stress.