Vector-chiral (VC) antiferromagnetism is a spiral-like ordering of spins which may allow ferroelectricity to occur due to loss of space inversion symmetry. In this paper we report direct experimental observation of ferroelectricity in the VC phase of β-TeVO4, a frustrated spin chain system with pronounced magnetic anisotropy and a rich phase diagram. Saturation polarization is proportional to neutron scattering intensities that correspond to the VC magnetic reflection. This implies that inverse Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya mechanism is responsible for driving electric polarization. Linear magnetoelectric coupling is absent, however an unprecedented dependence of electric coercive field on applied magnetic field reveals a novel way of manipulating multiferroic information.
@article{arxiv.2104.06726,
title = {Control of a polar order via magnetic field in a vector-chiral magnet},
author = {Martina Dragičević and David Rivas Góngora and Željko Rapljenović and Mirta Herak and Vedran Brusar and Damir Altus and Matej Pregelj and Andrej Zorko and Helmuth Berger and Denis Arčon and Tomislav Ivek},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2104.06726},
year = {2021}
}