Enhancing the magnetoelectric coupling of Co4Nb2O9[100] by substitution of Mg for Co

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that substituting Mg into Co4Nb2O9 enhances its magnetoelectric coupling, despite a slight decrease in Neel temperature, making it a promising material for spintronics and logic devices.

Contribution

The paper reports that Mg substitution in Co4Nb2O9 doubles the magnetoelectric coupling strength, a novel approach to improve multiferroic properties.

Findings

Magnetoelectric coefficient $oldsymbol{lpha_{ME}}$ is doubled with Mg substitution.

Neel temperature decreases slightly but remains functional for applications.

Mg substitution enhances ME coupling without compromising crystal quality.

Abstract

We report experimental studies on enhancing the magnetoelectric (ME) coupling of Co$_4$Nb$_2$O$_9$ by substitution of non-magnetic metal Mg for Co. A series of single crystal Co$_{4-x}$Mg$_x$Nb$_2$O$_9$ (x=0, 1, 2, 3) with a single-phase corundum-type structure are synthesized by the optical floating zone method, and the good quality and crystallographic orientations of the synthesized samples are confirmed by Laue spots and sharp XRD peaks. Although the Neel temperature ($T_N$) of the Mg substituted crystals are slightly decreased from 27 K for pure Co$_4$Nb$_2$O$_9$ to 19 K and 11 K for Co$_3$MgNb$_2$O$_9$ and Co$_2$Mg$_2$Nb$_2$O$_9$, respectively, the ME coupling is double enhanced by Mg substitution when x=1. For the magnetic field (electric field) control of electric polarization (magnetization), the ME coefficient $\alpha_{ME}$ of Co$_3$MgNb$_2$O$_9$ is measured to be 12.8 ps/m (13.7 ps/m). These results indicate that the Mg substituted Co$_{4-x}$Mg$_x$Nb$_2$O$_9$ (x=1) could serve as a potential material candidate for applications in future logic spintronics and logic devices.