A high-temperature multiferroic Tb$_2$(MoO$_4$)$_3$

Magnetoelectric mutual control in multiferroics, which is the electric control of magnetization, or reciprocally the magnetic control of polarization has attracted much attention because of its possible applications to spintronic devices, multi-bit memories, and so on. While the required working temperature for the practical application is much higher than room temperature, which ensures stable functionality at room temperature, the reported working temperatures were at most around room temperature. Here, we demonstrated magnetic control of ferroelectric polarization at 432 K in ferroelectric and ferroelastic Tb$_2$(MoO$_4$)$_3$, in which the polarity of ferroelectric polarization is coupled to the orthorhombic strain below the transition temperature 432 K. The paramagnetic but strongly magnetoelastic Tb$^{3+}$ magnetic moments enable the magnetic control of ferroelectric and ferroelastic domains; the ferroelectric polarization is controlled depending on whether the magnetic field is applied along [110] or [$\bar{1}$10]. This result may pave a new avenue for designing high-temperature multiferroics.
Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures