Article

Chiral domains in cycloidal multiferroic thin films: switching and memory effects.

Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus UAB, Bellaterra 08193, Catalonia, Spain.
Physical Review Letters (impact factor: 7.37). 12/2011; 107(25):257601. pp.257601
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Cycloidal magnetic order occurring in some AMnO(3) perovskites is known to induce ferroelectricity. The polarization is perpendicular to the propagation vector direction of the cycloid and its chirality, and therefore it is directly related to the chiral domain structure. We show that the switching process of chiral domains is sensitively dependent on the magnetoelectric history of the sample. Moreover, by appropriate field cycling, magnetic order can display partial chiral memory. We argue that memory results from electric field coupling of cycloidal domain and nucleation and pinning of chiral domain walls, much like the domain structure in other ferroic systems.

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Keywords

appropriate field cycling
 
chiral domain structure
 
chiral domain walls
 
chiral domains
 
cycloidal domain
 
Cycloidal magnetic order
 
domain structure
 
electric field coupling
 
ferroic systems
 
induce ferroelectricity
 
magnetoelectric history
 
nucleation
 
polarization
 
switching process