Octahedron distortion-triggered dipole–spin interaction in multiferroic magnetoelectric perovskites

Abstract

The design of perovskite structures with multiferroic magnetoelectric coupling effects opens up new opportunities in fields such as the creation of next-generation spin-dependent multistate information storage technologies. In this work, we prepared a transition metal-implanted perovskite with multiferroic magnetoelectric coupling, in which both magnetoelectric coupling and a blueshift of photoluminescence were observed. The introduction of transition metal-generated polarized spin interacts with the electronic orbit through spin–orbital coupling to lead to a pronounced octahedron distortion, where the temperature dependence of the dielectric constant undergoes a ferroelectric polarization transition. An external magnetic field could enhance the strength of spin polarization to further affect the magnitude of electric polarization. Moreover, applying an electric field tunes the distortion of the octahedron dependence of electric polarization to feed back to the change in spin polarization. Overall, the spin polarization-induced electric polarization in perovskites provides a unique approach to realizing the room-temperature magnetoelectric coupling of multiferroic materials.