# Ferroelectricity in $\mathbf{BiMnO_3}$ Thin Films

## TL;DR

This study demonstrates that thin films of BiMnO₃ exhibit both strong ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism, with substrate constraints promoting a polar structure and revealing charge disproportionation in Mn ions.

## Contribution

The paper provides the first detailed theoretical analysis of ferroelectricity in BiMnO₃ thin films, explicitly including substrate effects and showing enhanced polarization compared to bulk.

## Key findings

- BiMnO₃ thin films are both ferroelectric and ferromagnetic.
- Substrate constraints favor parallel Bi ion displacements, leading to strong polarization.
- Charge disproportionation of Mn ions occurs spontaneously in thin films.

## Abstract

The existence of ferroelectricity in {$\mathrm{BiMnO}_3$} has been a long-standing question for both experimentalists and theorists. In addition to a highly distorted bulk structure, the ionic crystal planes cause a large roughness in thin films that makes it extremely difficult to nail down the physical mechanisms underlying a possible ferroelectric-ferromagnetic phase. We approach the problem by including the substrate explicitly to study the polarization. With this model, we investigate mono-, di-, and trilayer {$\mathrm{BiMnO}_3$} thin films on $\mathrm{SrTiO}_3$ substrates. We find that thin film systems have both strong ferromagnetism and strong ferroelectricity. Substrate constraints weaken the competition between displacements induced by stereochemically active Bi-$6s^2$ lone pairs and by Jahn-Teller distortions around Mn ions found in the bulk, such that the sum of off-center displacements of Bi ions in bulk {$\mathrm{BiMnO}_3$} nearly cancel. In {$\mathrm{BiMnO}_3$} thin films, in contrast, all Bi ions displace roughly in parallel, resulting in a strongly polar structure. We also find spontaneous charge disproportionation of Mn ion pairs in {$\mathrm{BiMnO}_3$} thin films.