AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition
    Thin Film Thursday Sessions
       Session TF-ThP

Paper TF-ThP11
In Search of New Multiferroics: Thin Film Synthesis and Characterization of Titanates of the MTiO3 (M=Ni, Fe, Mn, Co) Family

Thursday, October 21, 2010, 6:00 pm, Room Southwest Exhibit Hall

Session: Thin Film Poster Session II
Presenter: R. Sanghavi, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Authors: R. Sanghavi, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
T. Varga, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
T. Droubay, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
P. Nachimuthu, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
V. Shutthanandan, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
S. Thevuthasan, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Correspondent: Click to Email
Today’s challenge in multiferroics is to identify materials in which polarization and magnetization – normally considered contraindicated properties are strongly coupled. Recent theory calculations predicted that the family of compounds MTiO3 (M = Mn, Fe, Ni), in a certain polymorphic structure (acentric R3c), are promising candidates where a polar lattice distortion can induce weak ferromagnetism (WFM). Guided by these insights, a phase of FeTiO3 has been prepared more recently, which exhibits both ferroelectricity (FE) and WFM. However, the possible coupling between its polarization and WFM remains to be demonstrated. This demonstration may require the use of aligned single crystals to show that the magnetic and polar domains can be switched in concert. Results of the synthesis of the thin films of structurally analogous MTiO3 compounds, and their characterization with a focus on the possible coupling between FE and WFM are reported . This fundamental study can be used to develop functional magnetic devices such as bio-sensors in which the magnetization can be controlled by electric field