Magnetoelectric states of TbMnO3 in magnetic fields of different directions

Abstract

A phenomenological analysis of the magnetoelectric diagrams of the ferroelectric antiferromagnet TbMnO3 is presented for the temperature region where the rare-earth subsystem is paramagnetic. It is shown that the behavior of the electric polarization in magnetic fields of different directions cannot be explained solely in the framework of the A configuration of the manganese spins, and the weaker G and C states must be taken into account. The magnetoelectric diagrams attest to a more complex spin structure of the “oblique cross” type. It is proved that the so-called “polarization flop” in TbMnO3 in magnetic field is not a transition like the spin flop in magnets.