The chiral Fe-based langasites represent model systems of triangle-based frustrated magnets with a strong potential for multiferroicity. We report neutron scattering measurements for the multichiral Ba3MFe3Si2O14 (M = Nb, Ta) langasites revealing new important features of the magnetic order of these systems: the bunching of the helical modulation along the c-axis and the in-plane distortion of the 120{\textdegree} Fe-spin arrangement. We discuss these subtle features in terms of the microscopic spin Hamiltonian, and provide the link to the magnetically-induced electric polarization observed in these systems. Thus, our findings put the multiferroicity of this attractive family of materials on solid ground.
@article{arxiv.1506.06491,
title = {Helical bunching and symmetry lowering inducing multiferroicity in Fe langasites},
author = {Laura Chaix and Rafik Ballou and Andres Cano and Sylvain Petit and Sophie De Brion and Jacques Ollivier and Louis-Pierre Regnault and Eric Ressouche and Evan Constable and Claire Colin and A. Zorko and Valerio Scagnoli and Joël Balay and Pascal Lejay and Virginie Simonet},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1506.06491},
year = {2016}
}