| AVS 59th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Magnetic Interfaces and Nanostructures | Thursday Sessions |
| Session MI-ThP |
| Session: | Magnetic Interfaces and Nanostructures Poster Session |
| Presenter: | T. Varga, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory |
| Authors: | T. Varga, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory T.C. Droubay, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory M.E. Bowden, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory S.A. Chambers, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory B.C. Kabius, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory E. Apra, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory W.A. Shelton, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory V. Shutthanandan, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
In a search for new multiferroic materials where the direction of magnetization can be switched by an applied electric field, we have looked for materials in which polarization and magnetization 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. Guided by these insights, a rhombohedral phase of Ni TiO3 has been prepared in epitaxial thin film form, whose structure is of the predicted multiferroic. Preliminary physical property measurements suggest a Neel transition also consistent with the R3c structure and SHG imaging shows a polarized lattice. The synthesis of epitaxial NiTiO3 films, their full structural characterization and physical property measurements along with our first-principles DFT calculations to predict the desired NiTiO3 structure, its stability, and the effect of lattice strain on the growth are reported .