Abstract
The ferroelectric phase transition in RMnO3 breaks both Z3 and Z2 symmetries, giving rise to 6 structural domains. Topological protected vortices are formed at the junctions of all 6 domains, and the ferroelectric phase transition is closely related to these Z6 vortices. In this work, Monte-Carlo studies on both the ferroelectric and magnetic transition have been performed on RMnO3 system. The magnetic simulation results on lattices with different structural domain distributions induced by external electric field and simulated quenching show different magnetic transition temperature T s , indicating that the coupling of magnetism and ferroelectricity is through the Z6 structural domain. At extreme case, lattice quenched from above the ferroelectric transition results in high vortex density, which can drive the system into spin glass.
Highlights
Multiferroics are materials that host magnetism and ferroelectricity in a single phase [1]
Judging by the source of magnetism and ferroelectricity, multiferroics can be categorized into type-I and type-II: in type-I multiferroics the magnetism and ferroelectricity have different origins and are often well separated in transition temperatures, whereas in type-II multiferroics the magnetism is the cause of ferroelectricity [2,3,4]
The Z3 × Z2 symmetry breaking in the ferroelectric transition of RMnO3 creates 6 structural domains
Summary
Multiferroics are materials that host magnetism and ferroelectricity in a single phase [1]. As a typical type-I multiferroic, the hexagonal RMnO3 (R = Y, Lu, Sc, · · · ) becomes ferroelectric below TC ∼ 570–990 K when the crystal breaks the Z3 symmetry of the high temperature P63mmc phase through a structural instability of the Mn and O atoms due to trimerization [5,6,7]. The Z3 × Z2 symmetry breaking in the ferroelectric transition of RMnO3 creates 6 structural domains.
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