Tracking a hysteretic and disorder-broadened phase transition via the electromagnon response in improper ferroelectrics
| Autor: | C. D. W. Mosley, Dharmalingam Prabhakaran, James Lloyd-Hughes |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
Phase transition
Materials science Acoustics and Ultrasonics FOS: Physical sciences Context (language use) 02 engineering and technology Dielectric 01 natural sciences Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated Electrons Condensed Matter::Materials Science Phase (matter) 0103 physical sciences Antiferromagnetism Multiferroics 010306 general physics Spectroscopy QC Condensed Matter - Materials Science Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) Condensed matter physics Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology Condensed Matter Physics Ferroelectricity Surfaces Coatings and Films Electronic Optical and Magnetic Materials 0210 nano-technology |
| ISSN: | 0022-3727 |
| DOI: | 10.1088/1361-6463/aaa836 |
| Popis: | We demonstrate that electromagnons can be used to directly probe the nature of a phase transition between magnetically ordered phases in an improper ferroelectric. The antiferromagnetic/paraelectric to antiferromagnetic/ferroelectric phase transition in Cu$_{1-x}$Zn$_{x}$O ($x=0, 0.05$) alloys was tracked via the electromagnon response using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, on heating and cooling through the phase transition. The transition was found to exhibit thermal hysteresis, confirming its first-order nature, and to broaden under the influence of spin-disorder upon Zn substitution. The energy of the electromagnon increases upon alloying, as a result of the non-magnetic ions modifying the magnetic interactions that give rise to the multiferroic phase and electromagnons. We describe our findings in the context of recent theoretical work that examined improper ferroelectricity and electromagnons in CuO from phenomenological and first-principles approaches. 11 pages, 5 figures |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|