Magnetoelectric Coupling through the Spin Flop Transition in Ni_{3}TeO_{6}

M O Yokosuk; Amal Al-Wahish; Sergey Artyukhin; K R O'Neal; D Mazumdar; P Chen; Junjie Yang; Yoon Seok Oh; Stephen A McGill; K Haule; Sang-Wook Cheong; David Vanderbilt; J L Musfeldt

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.147402

Magnetoelectric Coupling through the Spin Flop Transition in Ni_{3}TeO_{6}

Phys Rev Lett. 2016 Sep 30;117(14):147402. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.147402. Epub 2016 Sep 30.

Authors

M O Yokosuk¹, Amal Al-Wahish¹, Sergey Artyukhin^{2

3}, K R O'Neal¹, D Mazumdar¹, P Chen¹, Junjie Yang⁴, Yoon Seok Oh^{2

5}, Stephen A McGill⁶, K Haule², Sang-Wook Cheong^{2

4

5}, David Vanderbilt², J L Musfeldt^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
³ Quantum Materials Theory, Italian Institute of Technology, Via Morego 30, 16163 Genova, Italy.
⁴ Laboratory for Pohang Emergent Materials and Max Plank POSTECH Center for Complex Phase Materials, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang 790-784, Korea.
⁵ Rutgers Center for Emergent Materials, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
⁶ National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32310, USA.
⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.

PMID: 27740819
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.147402

Abstract

We combined high field optical spectroscopy and first principles calculations to analyze the electronic structure of Ni_{3}TeO_{6} across the 53 K and 9 T magnetic transitions, both of which are accompanied by large changes in electric polarization. The color properties are sensitive to magnetic order due to field-induced changes in the crystal field environment, with those around Ni1 and Ni2 most affected. These findings advance the understanding of magnetoelectric coupling in materials in which magnetic 3d centers coexist with nonmagnetic heavy chalcogenide cations.