TY - JOUR
T1 - Tuning magnetoelectricity in a mixed-anisotropy antiferromagnet
AU - Fogh, Ellen
AU - Klemke, Bastian
AU - Reehuis, Manfred
AU - Bourges, Philippe
AU - Niedermayer, Christof
AU - Holm-Dahlin, Sonja
AU - Zaharko, Oksana
AU - Schefer, Jürg
AU - Kristensen, Andreas B.
AU - Sørensen, Michael K.
AU - Paeckel, Sebastian
AU - Pedersen, Kasper S.
AU - Hansen, Rasmus E.
AU - Pages, Alexandre
AU - Moerner, Kimmie K.
AU - Meucci, Giulia
AU - Soh, Jian Rui
AU - Bombardi, Alessandro
AU - Vaknin, David
AU - Rønnow, Henrik M.
AU - Syljuåsen, Olav F.
AU - Christensen, Niels B.
AU - Toft-Petersen, Rasmus
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023. The Author(s).
PY - 2023/6/9
Y1 - 2023/6/9
N2 - Control of magnetization and electric polarization is attractive in relation to tailoring materials for data storage and devices such as sensors or antennae. In magnetoelectric materials, these degrees of freedom are closely coupled, allowing polarization to be controlled by a magnetic field, and magnetization by an electric field, but the magnitude of the effect remains a challenge in the case of single-phase magnetoelectrics for applications. We demonstrate that the magnetoelectric properties of the mixed-anisotropy antiferromagnet LiNi1-xFexPO4 are profoundly affected by partial substitution of Ni2+ ions with Fe2+ on the transition metal site. This introduces random site-dependent single-ion anisotropy energies and causes a lowering of the magnetic symmetry of the system. In turn, magnetoelectric couplings that are symmetry-forbidden in the parent compounds, LiNiPO4 and LiFePO4, are unlocked and the dominant coupling is enhanced by almost two orders of magnitude. Our results demonstrate the potential of mixed-anisotropy magnets for tuning magnetoelectric properties.
AB - Control of magnetization and electric polarization is attractive in relation to tailoring materials for data storage and devices such as sensors or antennae. In magnetoelectric materials, these degrees of freedom are closely coupled, allowing polarization to be controlled by a magnetic field, and magnetization by an electric field, but the magnitude of the effect remains a challenge in the case of single-phase magnetoelectrics for applications. We demonstrate that the magnetoelectric properties of the mixed-anisotropy antiferromagnet LiNi1-xFexPO4 are profoundly affected by partial substitution of Ni2+ ions with Fe2+ on the transition metal site. This introduces random site-dependent single-ion anisotropy energies and causes a lowering of the magnetic symmetry of the system. In turn, magnetoelectric couplings that are symmetry-forbidden in the parent compounds, LiNiPO4 and LiFePO4, are unlocked and the dominant coupling is enhanced by almost two orders of magnitude. Our results demonstrate the potential of mixed-anisotropy magnets for tuning magnetoelectric properties.
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-023-39128-7
DO - 10.1038/s41467-023-39128-7
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 37296135
AN - SCOPUS:85161655311
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 14
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 3408
ER -