Cupric oxide as an induced-multiferroic with high-TC.
NATURE MATERIALS 2008;
7:291-294. [PMID:
18297078 DOI:
10.1038/nmat2125]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2007] [Accepted: 01/18/2008] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Materials that combine coupled electric and magnetic dipole order are termed 'magnetoelectric multiferroics'. In the past few years, a new class of such materials, 'induced-multiferroics', has been discovered, wherein non-collinear spiral magnetic order breaks inversion symmetry, thus inducing ferroelectricity. Spiral magnetic order often arises from the existence of competing magnetic interactions that reduce the ordering temperature of a more conventional collinear phase. Hence, spiral-phase-induced ferroelectricity tends to exist only at temperatures lower than approximately 40 K. Here, we propose that copper(II) oxides (containing Cu2+ ions) having large magnetic superexchange interactions can be good candidates for induced-multiferroics with high Curie temperature (T(C)). In fact, we demonstrate ferroelectricity with T(C)=230 K in cupric oxide, CuO (tenorite), which is known as a starting material for the synthesis of high-T(c) (critical temperature) superconductors. Our result provides an important contribution to the search for high-temperature magnetoelectric multiferroics.
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