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Strong intrinsic multiferroism and magnetoelectric coupling in (1- x )BiFeO 3 -( x )BaTiO 3 films
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Strong intrinsic multiferroism and magnetoelectric coupling in (1- x )BiFeO 3 -( x )BaTiO 3 films

Tae Yeon Kim, Jesse Schimpf, Atanu Paul, Michael Xu, Atanu Samanta, Sajid Husain, Peter Meisenheimer, Isaac Harris, Peter Finkel, Thomas Mion, …
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, v 123(18), e2603475123
05 May 2026
PMID: 42048465
Featured in Collection :   Drexel's Newest Publications

Abstract

multiferroic magnetoelectric coupling epitaxial thin-film single-phase
The coexistence of ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic order in BiFeO makes it promising for next-generation magnetoelectric devices. But, single-phase multiferroics with robust room-temperature polarization and magnetization are rare. Here, enhanced, room-temperature ferroelectric polarization (≈ 120 µC cm), saturation magnetization (≈ 40 emu cm), and strong magnetoelectric coupling (≈ 400 mV cm Oe) are observed in epitaxial (1-)BiFeO-()BaTiO thin films. These values of magnetization and magnetoelectric coupling are, respectively, one- and two-orders of magnitude larger than those same properties in the widely studied parent material BiFeO. This sought after combination of properties is found in a distinct tetragonal phase, which is different from rhombohedral and super-tetragonal variants of BiFeO, that emerges at = 0.2 to 0.3 via combined chemical substitution and epitaxial strain. Structural and physical-property characterization, along with first-principles calculations, reveal a transition from monoclinic to tetragonal symmetry and suggest that short-range ordering of the titanium in the tetragonal phase results in ferrimagnetic spin ordering. This work demonstrates a unique single-phase multiferroic combining strong polarization, magnetization, and magnetoelectric coupling achieved through manipulation of the coupled chemical order and spin order; thereby addressing a major challenge in multiferroics research and providing a path toward practical room-temperature, efficient charge-to-spin and spin-to-charge conversion technologies.

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