The magnetoelectric antiferromagnet ${\mathrm{Co}}_3{\mathrm{O}}_4$ has recently been reported as a promising platform for isothermal electric manipulation of antiferromagnetic states. Here, we report a detailed study on magnetization, heat capacity, dielectric properties, and electric polarization in single crystals of ${\mathrm{Co}}_3{\mathrm{O}}_4$. Magnetization and heat capacity measurements affirm the occurrence of a Néel-type collinear antiferromagnetic ordering below its Néel temperature $T_{\mathrm{N}}$ = 30 K, where the direction of the Néel vector can be rotated by weak fields. This magnetic ordering breaks the spatial inversion and time reversal symmetries and permits a strong linear magnetoelectric effect, leading to the emergence of field-induced electric polarization below $T_{\mathrm{N}}$, and is also manifested in a magnetic field-induced sharp $\lambda$-like peak in the dielectric constant at $T_{\mathrm{N}}$. Notably, the corresponding magnetocapacitance reaches a maximum value as high as 110% close to $T_{\mathrm{N}}$. This magnetocapacitance exhibits a quadratic dependence on the strength of the applied magnetic field, which is discussed within the framework of a phenomenological Landau theory.

Close

PrevNext

View figure in article

• Dielectric properties
• Magnetism
• Magnetoelectric effect
• Antiferromagnets
• Spinels
• Dielectric constant measurements
• Magnetization measurements
• Specific heat measurements