Nonlinear magnetoelectric effect in paraelectric state of Co4Nb2O9 single crystal

Yiming Cao; Guochu Deng; Přemysl Beran; Zhenjie Feng; Baojuan Kang; Jincang Zhang; Nicolas Guiblin; Brahim Dkhil; Wei Ren; Shixun Cao

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-14169-3

Nonlinear magnetoelectric effect in paraelectric state of Co₄Nb₂O₉ single crystal

Sci Rep. 2017 Oct 26;7(1):14079. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-14169-3.

Authors

Yiming Cao^{1

2

3}, Guochu Deng⁴, Přemysl Beran⁵, Zhenjie Feng¹, Baojuan Kang¹, Jincang Zhang^{1

6}, Nicolas Guiblin³, Brahim Dkhil³, Wei Ren^{1

6}, Shixun Cao^{7

8}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, International Center of Quantum and Molecular Structures, and Materials Genome Institute, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China.
² Center for Magnetic Materials and Devices, Key Laboratory for Advanced Functional and Low Dimensional Materials of Yunnan Higher Education Institute, Qujing Normal University, Qujing, 655011, China.
³ Laboratoire Structures, Propriétés et Modélisation des Solides, CentraleSupélec, CNRS-UMR 8580, Université Paris-Saclay, 91192, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
⁴ Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, New Illawarra Road, Lucas Heights, NSW 2234, Australia.
⁵ Nuclear Physics Institute CAS, 25068, Rez, Czech Republic.
⁶ Shanghai Key Laboratory of High Temperature Superconductors, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China.
⁷ Department of Physics, International Center of Quantum and Molecular Structures, and Materials Genome Institute, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China. sxcao@shu.edu.cn.
⁸ Shanghai Key Laboratory of High Temperature Superconductors, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China. sxcao@shu.edu.cn.

Abstract

We report the structural, magnetoelectric (ME), magnetic and electric control of magnetic properties in Co₄Nb₂O₉ (CNO) single crystal. A detailed ME measurement reveals a nonlinear ME effect instead of a linear ME effect in CNO single crystal. By fitting the magnetization-electric field (M-E) curve, it can be found that the linear ([Formula: see text]) and quadratic (γ) coefficients equal to ~8.27 ps/m and ~-6.46 ps/MV for upper branch, as well as ~8.38 ps/m and ~6.75 ps/MV for the lower branch. More importantly, a pronounced response was observed under a small cooling magnetic field, which cannot even cause the spin flop. This suggests a magnetoelectric effect can occur at paraelectric state for CNO single crystal. Furthermore, we also found that the magnetization of every axis responds to electric field applied along a-axis, but fails to do so when the electric field is applied c-axis. Such findings supply a direct evidence to the magnetic structure and ME coupling mechanism indirectly reflected by our neutron experiment.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't