Chiral properties of BiFeO3 inferred from resonant X-ray Bragg diffraction

DOI: 10.7566/JPSJ.83.013706

Authors: Angel Rodriguez-Fernandez (Universidad de Oviedo) , Stephen Lovesey (ISIS Facility; Diamond Light Source) , Stephen P. Collins (Diamond Light Source) , Gareth Nisbet (Diamond Light Source) , Jesus A. Blanco (Universidad de Oviedo)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Journal Of The Physical Society Of Japan , VOL 83 (1) , PAGES 013706

State: Published (Approved)
Published: December 2013
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 7720

Abstract: A new chiral phase of ferric ions in bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3), the only material known to support multiferroic behaviour at room temperature, is inferred from extensive sets of data gathered by resonant x-ray diffraction. Values of all ferric multipoles participating in a minimal model of Fe electronic structure are deduced from azimuthal-angle scans. Paramagnetic (700 K) and magnetically ordered (300 K) phases of a single crystal of BiFeO3 have been studied with x-rays tuned near to the iron K-edge (7.1135 keV). At both temperatures, intensities at a Bragg spot forbidden in the nominal space-group, R3c, are consistent with a chiral motif of ferric ions in a circular cycloid propagating along (1, 1, 0)H. Templeton and Templeton scattering at 700 K is attributed in part to charge-like quadrupoles in a cycloid.

Diamond Keywords: Ferroelectricity; Antiferromagnetism

Subject Areas: Materials, Physics


Instruments: I16-Materials and Magnetism

Added On: 09/12/2013 17:30

Discipline Tags:

Quantum Materials Multiferroics Physics Magnetism Materials Science

Technical Tags:

Diffraction