Strain is a leading candidate for controlling magnetoelectric coupling in multiferroics. Here, we use x-ray diffraction to study the coupling between magnetic order and structural distortion in epitaxial films of the orthorhombic (o-) perovskite LuMnO3. An antiferromagnetic spin canting in the E-type magnetic structure is shown to be related to the ferroelectrically induced structural distortion and to a change in the magnetic propagation vector. By comparing films of different orientations and thicknesses, these quantities are found to be controlled by b-axis strain. It is shown that compressive strain destabilizes the commensurate E-type structure and reduces its accompanying ferroelectric distortion.
Keywords: Multiferroic thin films; Orthorhombic rare-earth manganites; Resonant soft x-ray scattering; Antiferromagnet; Incommensurate magnetic ordering;
Facility: ENE, SLS, LMX, Thin Films and Interfaces
Reference: Y. W. Windsor, S. W. Huang, Y. Hu, L. Rettig, A. Alberca, K. Shimamoto, V. Scagnoli, T. Lippert, C. W. Schneider, and U. Staub, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 167202 (2014)
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Facility: ENE, SLS, LMX, Thin Films and Interfaces
Reference: Y. W. Windsor, S. W. Huang, Y. Hu, L. Rettig, A. Alberca, K. Shimamoto, V. Scagnoli, T. Lippert, C. W. Schneider, and U. Staub, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 167202 (2014)
Read full article: here