Aditya Putatunda | Searcharxiv

arXiv2024

Interplay of trimerization, chirality and ferroelecticity in multiferroic BaCoSiO4

Multiferroic materials combine multiple ferroic orders that may enable cross-functionalities, e.g. control of one ferroic order by the field conjugate to the other one. BaCoSiO$_4$, a recently proposed multiferroic combines multiple unit cell-tripling modes, structural chirality and ferroelectric polarization, whose interactions result in a peculiar ground state. We derive the Landau free energy for interacting trimerization, electric polarization and structural chiral modes and find the corresponding coefficients from first-principles calculations. This results in a quantitative model for the description of domain walls and vortices, observed in recent experiments.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Origin of lowered magnetic moments in epitaxially strained thin films of multiferroic Bi$_2$FeCrO$_6$

We have investigated the effect of epitaxial strain on the magnetic properties and $B$-site cation ordering in multiferroic Bi$_2$FeCrO$_6$ (001) thin films using a density-functional theory approach. We find that in thin films with rock-salt ordering of Fe and Cr the ground state is characterised by C-type anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) order. This is in contrast to the bulk form of the material which was predicted to be a ferrimagnet with G-type AFM order. Furthermore, the cation ordered thin-films undergo a transition with epitaxial strain from C to A-type AFM order. Other magnetic orders appear as thermally accessible excited states. We also find that $B$-site cation disordered structures are more stable in coherent epitaxial strains thereby explaining the lowered magnetic moments observed in these samples at room temperature. Strain varies both the sign as well as strength of the Fe-Cr superexchange coupling resulting in a very interesting phase diagram for Bi$_2$FeCrO$_6$ thin films.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗