Coexistence of the ferroelectric polarization and spontaneous magnetization has been found in Y-type hexaferrite Ba2Mg2Fe12O22. The reversal of magnetization by a small magnetic field below ∼0.02 T accompanies an electric polarization reversal through the clamping of ferrimagnetic and ferroelectric domain walls. This behavior can be potentially used as a magnetically rewritable ferroelectric memory and an electrically rewritable magnetic memory.

The magnetic-field dependence of the ferroelectric polarization and the spin-lattice coupling in multiferroic MnWO 4 have been investigated. The ferroelectric transition from the low temperature paraelectric phase occurs when the magnetic field is applied along the a, c, and the spin easy axes. The ferroelectric polarization in the magnetic field along the a and the c axis shows a contrasting behavior depending on the field direction, possibly reflecting the relative configuration between the crystallographic axis and the magnetic principal axis in the ac plane. Incommensurate lattice modulation observed in the ferroelectric spiral-spin phase confirms the existence of spin-lattice coupling in MnWO 4 . The lattice modulation indicates that the ferroelectric AF2 phase also takes the incommensurate magnetic structure in a magnetic field. In the high-field phase, which appears in high magnetic fields above 12 T along the easy axis, the magnetic-field-induced ferroelectric polarization disappeared.

The novel memory effect of a nonpolar paraelectric phase with a collinear spin structure has been observed in a magnetoelectric multiferroic material MnWO4. Since the ferroelectric polarization arises from a noncollinear spin structure, in a new class of magnetoelectric multiferroic materials with a spiral-spin structure, the information of ferroelectric domains should be lost in the collinear spin phase. However, in MnWO4, it has been found that the domain states in the ferroelectric phase are memorized even in the nonpolar phase with a collinear spin structure, when the phase transition is of the first-order type. Here we demonstrate a magnetoelectric memory effect that the ferroelectric single-domain state can be reproduced from the paraelectric phase by a magnetic field. We propose the nuclei growth model, in which the small ferroelectric embryos keep the polarization state in the nonpolar collinear spin phase.

Magnetic and structural phase diagram in a spinel-type solid solution system Fe(1-x)Mn(x)Cr(2)O(4) has been investigated. The cubic-to-tetragonal transition temperature T(s 1) is gradually reduced by the substitution of Mn(2+) (3d(5)) for Jahn-Teller-active Fe(2+) (3d(6)) ions, implying the long-range nature of the ferroic interaction between orbitals. In the paramagnetic tetragonal phase for x < 0.5, the c parameter is shorter than a because of the anharmonicity of the elastic energy. The crystal structure further changes to orthorhombic at around the ferrimagnetic transition temperature T(N 1). T(s 1) and T(N 1) meet at x = 0.5, and Mn substitution of more than 0.5 gives rise to another tetragonal phase with a < c. The systematic change in crystal structure is discussed in terms of competition between the anharmonic lattice potential and the intra-atomic spin-orbit interaction at Fe(2+).

For the memory application of magnetoelectric multiferroics, not only bistability (i.e., ferroelectricity) but also the switching of the polarization direction with some noneverlasting stimulus is necessary. Here, we report a novel method for the electric polarization reversal in TbMnO3 without the application of an electric field or heat. The direction of the magnetic-field-induced polarization along the a axis (Pa) is memorized even in the zero field where Pa is absent. The polarization direction can be reversed by rotating the magnetic-field direction in the ab plane.