Growth, Structure and Properties of Epitaxial Thin Films of First Principles Predicted Multiferroic Bi2FeCrO6

TL;DR

This study reports on the growth and characterization of epitaxial Bi2FeCrO6 thin films, demonstrating room-temperature multiferroic properties including ferroelectricity and magnetism, confirming ab-initio predictions.

Contribution

First experimental realization and detailed property analysis of Bi2FeCrO6 thin films predicted to be multiferroic by ab-initio calculations.

Findings

Films exhibit ferroelectricity with polarization of 2.8 μC/cm²

Films show magnetization of 20 emu/cc at room temperature

Multiferroic properties confirm theoretical predictions

Abstract

We report the structural and physical properties of epitaxial Bi2FeCrO6 thin films on epitaxial SrRuO3 grown on (100)-oriented SrTiO3 substrates by pulsed laser ablation. The 300 nm thick films exhibit both ferroelectricity and magnetism at room temperature with a maximum dielectric polarization of 2.8 microC/cm2 at Emax = 82 kV/cm and a saturated magnetization of 20 emu/cc (corresponding to ~ 0.26 Bohr magneton per rhombohedral unit cell), with coercive fields below 100 Oe. Our results confirm the predictions made using ab-initio calculations about the existence of multiferroic properties in Bi2FeCrO6.