Raman phonons in multiferroic FeVO4 crystals**Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2012CB921701), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11174367 and 11004243), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and the Research Funds of Renmin University of China (Grant Nos. 10XNI038, 14XNLF06, and 14XNLQ03).

Abstract

Multiferroic materials are promising candidates for next-generation multi-functional devices, because of the coexistence of multi-orders and the coupling between the orders. FeVO4 has been confirmed to be a multiferroic compound, since it exhibits both ferroelectricity and antiferromagnetic ordering at low temperatures. In this paper, we have performed careful Raman scattering measurements on high-quality FeVO4 single crystals. The compound has a very rich phonon structure due to its low crystal symmetry (P − 1) and at least 47 Raman-active phonon modes have been resolved in the low and hightemperature spectra. Most of the observed modes are well assigned with aid of first-principles calculations and symmetry analysis. The present study provides an experimental basis for exploring spin-lattice coupling and the mechanism of multiferroicity in FeVO4