Orbital degrees of freedom as origin of magnetoelectric coupling in magnetite

Details Orbital degrees of freedom as origin of magnetoelectric coupling in magnetite Orbital degrees of freedom as origin of magnetoelectric coupling in magnetite

2010-10-06

arxiv.org/abs/1010.1105v2

Physics

Condensed Matter

Materials Science

5 pages, 2 figures, Submitted for publication

Scientific paper

A microscopic understanding of magnetoelectricity, i.e. the coupling between magnetic (electric) properties and external electric (magnetic) fields, is a crucial milestone for future generations of electrically-controlled spintronic devices. Here, we focus on the first magnetoelectric known to mankind: magnetite. By means of a joint approach based on phenomenological Landau theory and density-functional simulations, we show that magnetoelectricity in charge-/orbital-ordered Fe3O4 in the non-centrosymmetric Cc structure is driven by the interplay between a peculiar orbital-order and on-site spin-orbit coupling. The excellent agreement with available experiments confirms our theoretical picture, pointing to magnetite as a prototype of a novel category of magnetoelectrics where ferroelectric polarization can be induced, tuned or switched via a magnetic field.

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