Abstract
The emergence of a triple phase point in a two-dimensional parameter space (such as pressure and temperature) can offer unforeseen opportunities for the coupling of two seemingly independent order parameters. On the basis of this, we demonstrate the electric control of magnetic order by manipulating chemical pressure: lanthanum substitution in the antiferromagnetic ferroelectric BiFeO3. Our demonstration relies on the finding that a multiferroic triple phase point of a single spin-disordered phase and two spin-ordered phases emerges near room temperature in Bi0.9La0.1FeO3 ferroelectric thin films. By using spatially resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy, we provide direct evidence that the electric poling of a particular region of the compound near the triple phase point results in an antiferromagnetic phase while adjacent unpoled regions remain magnetically disordered, opening a promising avenue for magnetoelectric applications at room temperature.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF) Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2013S1A2A2035418 and NRF-2014R1A2A2A01005979) and the NRF via the Center for Quantum Coherence in Condensed Matter (2016R1A5A1008184). Soft X-ray studies were carried out at the SSRL, a Directorate of SLAC and an Office of Science User Facility operated for the US DOE Office of Science by Stanford University. J.-S.L. acknowledges partial support by the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, under contract DE-AC02-76SF00515. K.-T.K. acknowledges Study for Nano Scale Optomaterials and Complex Phase Materials (2016K1A4A4A01922028) through NRF funded by MSIP of Korea. Y.H.J. was supported by the NRF of Korea (SRC-2011-0030786 and 2015R1D1A1A02062239). This work was supported by the Global Frontier R&D Program on Center for Hybrid Interface Materials (HIM) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (2013M3A6B1078872).
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B.-K.J. and C.-H.Y. conceived and designed the project. B.-K.J. and K.K. prepared samples and B.-K.J., M.H.J. and Y.H.J. characterized capacitance and loss tangent. J.H.L., B.-K.J., Y.-J.K., H.-B.J. and T.Y.K. carried out structural analysis using X-ray diffraction. J.-S.L., H.O., H.J., K.-T.K. and B.-K.J. performed and analysed soft X-ray spectroscopy. K.C., P.S., K.-E.K. and J.S. measured and analysed angle-resolved PFM. G.-Y.K., K.S. and S.-Y.C. performed STEM and EELS. B.-K.J. and C.-H.Y. designed and simulated the Landau model, and led manuscript preparation with contributions from all authors.
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Jang, BK., Lee, J., Chu, K. et al. Electric-field-induced spin disorder-to-order transition near a multiferroic triple phase point. Nature Phys 13, 189–196 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3902
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3902
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