We present a new member of the multiferroic oxides, Lu2MnCoO6, which we have investigated using X-ray diffraction, neutron diffraction, specific heat, magnetization, electric polarization, and dielectric constant measurements. This material possesses an electric polarization strongly coupled to a net magnetization below 35 K, despite the antiferromagnetic ordering of the S=3/2 Mn4+ and Co2+ spins in an ↑↑↓↓ configuration along the c-direction. We discuss the magnetic order in terms of a condensation of domain boundaries between ↑↑ and ↓↓ ferromagnetic domains, with each domain boundary producing a net electric polarization due to spatial inversion symmetry breaking. In an applied magnetic field the domain boundaries slide, controlling the size of the net magnetization, electric polarization, and magnetoelectric coupling.
@article{arxiv.1105.2058,
title = {Multiferroic behavior in the new double-perovskite Lu$_2$MnCoO$_6$},
author = {S. Yanez-Vilar and E. D. Mun and V. S. Zapf and B. G. Ueland and J. Gardner and J. D. Thompson and J. Singleton and M. Sanchez-Andujar and J. Mira and N. Biskup and M. A. Senaris-Rodriguez and C. D. Batista},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1105.2058},
year = {2015}
}