No Arabic abstract
We investigated the electronic structure of multiferroic hexagonal RMnO3 (R = Gd, Tb, Dy, and Ho) thin films using both optical spectroscopy and first-principles calculations. Using artificially stabilized hexagonal RMnO3, we extended the optical spectroscopic studies on the hexagonal multiferroic manganite system. We observed two optical transitions located near 1.7 eV and 2.3 eV, in addition to the predominant absorption above 5 eV. With the help of first-principles calculations, we attribute the low-lying optical absorption peaks to inter-site transitions from the oxygen states hybridized strongly with different Mn orbital symmetries to the Mn 3d3z2-r2 state. As the ionic radius of the rare earth ion increased, the lowest peak showed a systematic increase in its peak position. We explained this systematic change in terms of a flattening of the MnO5 triangular bipyramid.
We investigated the effects of temperature and magnetic field on the electronic structure of hexagonal RMnO3 (R = Gd, Tb, Dy, and Ho) thin films using optical spectroscopy. As the magnetic ordering of the system was disturbed, a systematic change in the electronic structure was commonly identified in this series. The optical absorption peak near 1.7 eV showed an unexpectedly large shift of more than 150 meV from 300 K to 15 K, accompanied by an anomaly of the shift at the Neel temperature. The magnetic field dependent measurement clearly revealed a sizable shift of the corresponding peak when a high magnetic field was applied. Our findings indicated strong coupling between the magnetic ordering and the electronic structure in the multiferroic hexagonal RMnO3 compounds.
We have used a shell model to study the phonon dynamics of multiferroic manganites RMnO3 (R= Tb, Dy, Ho). The calculated phonon dynamical properties, crystal structure, Raman frequencies and specific heat are found to be in good agreement with the available experimental data. Besides, the phonon density of states, elastic constants and phonon dispersion curves along high symmetry directions (sigma, delta and lambda) have also been computed. A zone-center imaginary Au mode is revealed in these phonon dispersion curves, which indicates the occurrence of metastability of the perovskite phase. The Gibbs free energy values of orthorhombic phase, when compared with those of hexagonal phase, indicate the possibility of coexistence of these two phases of these multiferroic manganites under ambient conditions.
The magnetic phase diagrams of RMnO3 (R = Er, Yb, Tm, Ho) are investigated up to 14 Tesla via magnetic and dielectric measurements. The stability range of the AFM order below the Neel temperature of the studied RMnO3 extends to far higher magnetic fields than previously assumed. Magnetic irreversibility indicating the presence of a spontaneous magnetic moment is found near 50 K for R=Er, Yb, and Tm. At very low temperatures and low magnetic fields the phase boundary defined by the ordering of the rare earth moments is resolved. The sizable dielectric anomalies observed along all phase boundaries are evidence for strong spin-lattice coupling in the hexagonal RMnO3. In HoMnO3 the strong magnetoelastic distortions are investigated in more detail via magnetostriction experiments up to 14 Tesla. The results are discussed based on existing data on magnetic symmetries and the interactions between the Mn-spins, the rare earth moments, and the lattice.
We have studied the crystal and magnetic structures of the magnetoelectric materials RMn2O5 (R = Tb, Ho, Dy) using neutron diffraction as a function of temperature. All three materials display incommensurate antiferromagnetic ordering below 40 K, becoming commensurate on further cooling. For R = Tb, Ho, a commensurate-incommensurate transition takes place at low temperatures. The commensurate magnetic structures have been solved and are discussed in terms of competing exchange interactions. The spin configuration within the ab plane is essentially the same for each system, and the radius of R determines the sign of the magnetic exchange between adjacent planes. The inherent magnetic frustration in these materials is lifted by a small lattice distortion, primarily involving shifts of the Mn3+ cations and giving rise to a canted antiferroelectric phase.
X-ray resonant magnetic scattering studies of rare earth magnetic ordering were performed on perovskite manganites RMnO3 (R = Dy, Gd) in an applied magnetic field. The data reveal that the field-induced three-fold polarization enhancement for H || a (H approx. 20 kOe) observed in DyMnO3 below 6.5 K is due to a re-emergence of the Mn-induced Dy spin order with propagation vector k(Dy) = k(Mn) = 0.385 b*, which accompanies the suppression of the independent Dy magnetic ordering, k(Dy) = 1/2 b*. For GdMnO3, the Mn-induced ordering of Gd spins is used to track the Mn-ordering propagation vector. The data confirm the incommensurate ordering reported previously, with k(Mn) varying from 0.245 to 0.16 b* on cooling from T_N(Mn) down to a transition temperature T. New superstructure reflections which appear below T suggest a propagation vector k(Mn) = 1/4 b* in zero magnetic field, which may coexist with the previously reported A-type ordering of Mn. The Gd spins order with the same propagation vector below 7 K. Within the ordered state of Gd at T = 1.8 K we find a phase boundary for an applied magnetic field H || b, H = 10 kOe, which coincides with the previously reported transition between the ground state paraelectric and the ferroelectric phase of GdMnO3. Our results suggest that the magnetic ordering of Gd in magnetic field may stabilize a cycloidal ordering of Mn that, in turn, produces ferroelectricity.