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Relaxor ferroelectricity and colossal magnetocapacitive coupling in ferromagnetic CdCr2S4

Nature volume 434, pages 364–367 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Materials in which magnetic and electric order coexist—termed ‘multiferroics’ or ‘magnetoelectrics’—have recently become the focus of much research1,2,3,4. In particular, the simultaneous occurrence of ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity, combined with an intimate coupling of magnetization and polarization via magnetocapacitive effects, holds promise for new generations of electronic devices. Here we present measurements on a simple cubic spinel compound with unusual, and potentially useful, magnetic and electric properties: it shows ferromagnetic order coexisting with relaxor ferroelectricity (a ferroelectric cluster state with a smeared-out phase transition), both having sizable ordering temperatures and moments. Close to the ferromagnetic ordering temperature, the magnetocapacitive coupling (characterized by a variation of the dielectric constant in an external magnetic field) reaches colossal values, approaching 500 per cent. We attribute the relaxor properties to geometric frustration, which is well known for magnetic moments but here is found to impede long-range order of the structural degrees of freedom that drive the formation of the ferroelectric state.

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Figure 1: Magnetic and dielectric characterization of CdCr2S4.
Figure 2: Magnetocapacitive behaviour of CdCr2S4.
Figure 3: Thermo-remanent polarization versus temperature.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported partly by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft via the Sonderforschungsbereich 484 and partly by the BMBF via VDI/EKM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Experimental Physics V, Centre for Electronic Correlations and Magnetism, University of Augsburg, 86159, Augsburg, Germany

    J. Hemberger, P. Lunkenheimer, R. Fichtl, H.-A. Krug von Nidda, V. Tsurkan & A. Loidl

  2. Institute for Applied Physics, Academy of Sciences of Moldova, MD-2028, Chisinau, Moldova

    V. Tsurkan

Authors
  1. J. Hemberger
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  2. P. Lunkenheimer
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  3. R. Fichtl
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  4. H.-A. Krug von Nidda
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  6. A. Loidl
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Correspondence to P. Lunkenheimer.

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Hemberger, J., Lunkenheimer, P., Fichtl, R. et al. Relaxor ferroelectricity and colossal magnetocapacitive coupling in ferromagnetic CdCr2S4. Nature 434, 364–367 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03348

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