Chemical compression and ferroic orders in La substituted BiFeO3

Abstract

Chemical compression effects on the ferroic orders in La substituted $\mathrm{BiFe}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ are studied by atomic pair distribution function analysis and structure modeling. While rhombohedral $\mathrm{BiFe}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ exhibits ferroelectricity and antiferromagnetism (AF) with a cycloidal Fe spin arrangement leading to zero magnetization, La substituted $\mathrm{BiFe}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ exhibits a reduced lattice polarization, strengthened AF order, and an apparently suppressed spin cycloid leading to nonzero magnetization. The observed changes in the ferroic orders arise from the chemical compression induced changes in the octahedral rotation and ferroelectric displacement of Bi atoms, which appear as lattice degrees of freedom entangling the electronic and magnetic orders in $\mathrm{BiFe}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$.