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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 103 » Issue 14
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 147202 (2009) [4 pages]

Spin Amplitude Modulation Driven Magnetoelectric Coupling in the New Multiferroic FeTe2O5Br

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M. Pregelj1, O. Zaharko2,*, A. Zorko1, Z. Kutnjak1, P. Jeglič1, P. J. Brown3, M. Jagodič4, Z. Jagličić4,5, H. Berger6, and D. Arčon1,7,†
1“Jozef Stefan” Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
2Laboratory for Neutron Scattering, ETHZ and PSI, CH-5232 Villigen, Switzerland
3Institut Laue-Langevin, 156X, 38042 Grenoble Cedex, France
4Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics, Jadranska 19, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
5Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Jamova 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
6Institute of Physics of Complex Matter, EPFL, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
7Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Jadranska 19, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Received 12 June 2009; published 30 September 2009

The magnetic and ferroelectric properties of the layered geometrically frustrated cluster compound FeTe2O5Br were investigated with single-crystal neutron diffraction and dielectric measurements. An incommensurate transverse amplitude modulated magnetic order with the wave vector q=(1/2,0.463,0) develops below TN=10.6(2)  K. Simultaneously, a ferroelectric order due to exchange striction involving polarizable Te4+ lone-pair electrons develops perpendicular to q and to Fe3+ magnetic moments. The observed magnetoelectric coupling is proposed to originate from the temperature dependent phase difference between neighboring amplitude modulation waves.

© 2009 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.147202
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.147202
PACS:
75.25.+z, 75.80.+q, 77.80.−e, 77.84.−s

*oksana.zaharko@psi.ch

†denis.arcon@ijs.si

 
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