Highly nonlinear magnetoelectric effect in buckled-honeycomb antiferromagnetic Co4Ta2O9.

ABSTRACT: Strongly correlated materials with multiple order parameters provide unique insights into the fundamental interactions in condensed matter systems and present opportunities for innovative technological applications. A class of antiferromagnetic honeycomb lattices compounds, A4B2O9 (A?=?Co, Fe, Mn; B?=?Nb, Ta), have been explored owing to the occurrence of linear magnetoelectricity. From our investigation of magnetoelectricity on single crystalline Co4Ta2O9, we discovered strongly nonlinear and antisymmetric magnetoelectric behavior above the spin-flop transition for magnetic fields applied along two orthogonal in-plane directions. This observation suggests that two types of inequivalent Co2+ sublattices generate magnetic-field-dependent ferroelectric polarization with opposite signs. The results motivate fundamental and applied research on the intriguing magnetoelectric characteristics of these buckled-honeycomb lattice materials.

SUBMITTER: Lee N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7378256 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature