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  • Letter

Improper multiferroiclike transition in a metal

Zhigang Gui1,*, Chao Gu1,*, Hu Cheng1, Jinlong Zhu1, Xiaohui Yu2, Er-jia Guo2, Liusuo Wu1, Jiawei Mei1, Jieming Sheng1 et al.

Jianzhong Zhang3, Junling Wang1, Yusheng Zhao1, Laurent Bellaiche4, Li Huang1,†, and Shanmin Wang1,‡

  • 1Department of Physics & Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Southern University of Science & Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518055, China
  • 2Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
  • 3Materials Science & Technology Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
  • 4Physics Department and Institute for Nanoscience and Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arizona 72701, USA

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †huangl@sustech.edu.cn
  • ‡wangsm@sustech.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. B 105, L180101 – Published 19 May, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.105.L180101

Abstract

Magnetic frustration in insulators often induces cooperative atomic displacements to form a polar structure with long-range ordered electric dipoles, commonly known as improper multiferroics. In metals, such a multiferroic phenomenon is not expected to occur because free carriers tend to screen internal electrostatic forces, eliminating long-range ordered electric dipoles. To date, intrinsic multiferroiclike metals have rarely been reported. Here we present a spin-frustration-induced long-range antiparallel ordering of electric dipoles in metallic CrN with an unusual antiferromagnetic ground state. Two equivalent magnetic structures are also iden- tified and linked to two distinct antiparallel polar orders. Such a scenario is analogous to that of conventional improper multiferroics with a magnetic origin of polar transition. The order parameter of structural distortion is linearly coupled to the magnetic order due to a strong magnetoelectric effect. The multiferroiclike metal is in striking contrast to insulating multiferroics, offering an extraordinary archetype for probing new underlying physics and exploring unusual properties for practical applications.

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Phys. Rev. B 105, L180101– Published 19 May, 2022
  • Received 11 March 2021
  • Accepted 6 May 2022
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