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Multiferroics: Past, present, and future

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Abstract

This article provides a personal guided tour of multiferroic materials, from their early days as a theoretical curiosity, to their position today as a focus of worldwide research activity poised to impact technology. The article begins with the history of, and the answer to, the question of why so few magnetic ferroelectric multiferroics exist, then gives a survey of the mechanisms and materials that support such multiferroicity. After discussing the tremendous progress that has been made in the magnetoelectric control of magnetic properties using an electric field, some unusual applications of multiferroics in high-energy physics and cosmology are outlined. Finally, the most interesting open questions and future research directions are addressed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ETH Zürich, Switzerland

    Nicola A. Spaldin

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  1. Nicola A. Spaldin
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Correspondence to Nicola A. Spaldin.

Additional information

The following article is based on a Symposium X (Frontiers of Materials Research) presentation given by Nicola A. Spaldin at the 2016 MRS Fall Meeting in Boston, Mass.

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Spaldin, N.A. Multiferroics: Past, present, and future. MRS Bulletin 42, 385–390 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2017.86

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