• Open Access

Strain coupling in multiferroic phase transitions of samarium yttrium manganite Sm0.6Y0.4MnO3

Jason Schiemer, Daniel O’Flynn, Geetha Balakrishnan, and Michael A. Carpenter
Phys. Rev. B 88, 054108 – Published 16 August 2013

Abstract

Sm1xYxMnO3 (SYM x) is one of a class of multiferroic manganites that has seen significant recent interest due to the intimate connection between cycloidal magnetic order and ferroelectricity in these materials. SYM shows sequential transitions between paramagnetic, sinusoidally ordered antiferromagnetic and cycloidally ordered antiferromagnetic phases with decreasing temperature. As in the other members of the family, the magnetic spin cycloid induces ferroelectricity, although whether there is any elastic coupling involved in this process is not known. In this work, resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) is used to examine the stiffness and dissipation in SYM 0.4 as the magnetic transitions are traversed. It is found that there are only very small signatures of the transitions in the elastic properties of the material, indicating the weakness of the magnetoelastic (and electroelastic) coupling. The mechanical loss does show a significant decrease upon cooling below TN1=50 K, indicating the freezing of some loss mechanism near the temperature where magnetic order is achieved. The strain at these magnetic transitions in a related material, Eu1xYxMnO3, is examined from data published in the literature, and very low shear strain is observed, along with a more significant volume strain effect. This correlates well with the observations from RUS, as the peak frequencies are more sensitive to shear effects than bulk effects. These results suggest that the weak coupling of the magnetic transitions with shear may be a more general behavior in multiferroic perovskite-related manganites.

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  • Received 30 May 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.88.054108

This article is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

©2013 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Jason Schiemer1,*, Daniel O’Flynn2,†, Geetha Balakrishnan2, and Michael A. Carpenter1

  • 1Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, United Kingdom
  • 2Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom

  • *jas263@cam.ac.uk
  • Also at Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering, University College London, Malet Place Engineering Building, Gower Street, London, WC1E6BT, UK.

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Vol. 88, Iss. 5 — 1 August 2013

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