Observation of current-induced bulk magnetization in elemental tellurium

Tetsuya Furukawa,Yuri Shimokawa,Tetsuaki Itou,Kaya Kobayashi

doi:10.1038/s41467-017-01093-3

Tetsuya Furukawa, Yuri Shimokawa + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01093-3

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Abstract

The magnetoelectric effect in bulk matter is of growing interest both fundamentally and technologically. Since the beginning of the century, the magnetoelectric effect has been studied intensively in multiferroic materials. However, magnetoelectric phenomena in materials without any (anti-)ferroic order remain almost unexplored. Here we show the observation of a new class of bulk magnetoelectric effect, by revisiting elemental trigonal tellurium. We demonstrate that elemental tellurium, which is a nonmagnetic semiconductor, exhibits current-induced magnetization. This effect is attributed to spin splitting of the bulk band owing to the lack of inversion symmetry in trigonal tellurium. This finding highlights magnetoelectricity in bulk matter driven by moving electrons without any (anti-)ferroic order. Notably, current-induced magnetization generates a magnetic field that is not circular around but is parallel to the applied current; thus, this phenomenon opens a new area of magnetic field generation beyond Ampere’s law that may lead to industrial applications.

Highlights

The magnetoelectric effect in bulk matter is of growing interest both fundamentally and technologically
We present the currentinduced shift of a 125Te-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrum depending on the strength and the polarity of an applied electric current; this result indicates that an applied current induces bulk electronic magnetization
The observed current-induced electronic magnetization clearly represents a new class of magnetoelectric phenomena in bulk materials because the effect does not require any ferroic order

Summary

Introduction

The magnetoelectric effect in bulk matter is of growing interest both fundamentally and technologically. We present the currentinduced shift of a 125Te-NMR spectrum depending on the strength and the polarity of an applied electric current; this result indicates that an applied current induces bulk electronic magnetization. A static magnetic field B0 and a pulsed electric current I were applied parallel to the c axis.

Results

Conclusion