Multiferroic materials have been the subject of intense study, but it remains a great challenge to synthesize those presenting both magnetic and ferroelectric polarizations at room temperature. In this work, we have successfully obtained LiNbO3-type ScFeO3, a metastable phase converted from the orthorhombic perovskite formed under 15 GPa at elevated temperatures. A combined structure analysis by synchrotron X-ray and neutron powder diffraction and high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy imaging reveals that this compound adopts the polar R3c symmetry with a fully ordered arrangement of trivalent Sc and Fe ions, forming highly distorted ScO6 and FeO6 octahedra. The calculated spontaneous polarization along the hexagonal c-axis is as large as 100 μC/cm(2). The magnetic studies show that LiNbO3-type ScFeO3 is a weak ferromagnet with TN = 545 K due to a canted G-type antiferromagnetic ordering of Fe(3+) spins, representing the first example of LiNbO3-type oxides with magnetic ordering far above room temperature. A comparison of the present compound and rare-earth orthorhombic perovskites RFeO3 (R = La-Lu and Y), all of which possess the corner-shared FeO6 octahedral network, allows us to find a correlation between TN and the Fe-O-Fe bond angle, indicating that the A-site cation-size-dependent octahedral tilting dominates the magnetic transition through the Fe-O-Fe superexchange interaction. This work provides a general and versatile strategy to create materials in which ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism coexist at high temperatures.

We experimentally demonstrate the capability of tailoring lasing resonance properties by manipulating the coupling between surface plasmons and photons in random lasing media composed of metallic-dielectric core-shell nanoparticles and organic dyes. It is revealed that core-shell nanoparticle-based systems exhibit optical feedback features distinctive from those containing pure metallic nanoparticles, provided that the scattering strength is weak enough. The pump threshold increases with an increment in the shell thickness, which can provide a direct proof that the local field enhancement plays a central role in the emergence of coherent feedback. The anomalous behavior in both threshold and optical feedback is discussed in terms of the modification of fluorescent properties of fluorophores close to metallic surface.

The solid solutions between ilmenite (FeTiO3) and hematite (α-Fe2O3) have recently attracted considerable attention as a spintronic material due to their interesting magnetic and electrical properties. In this study, the electronic and magnetic structures of epitaxially grown 0.6FeTiO3·0.4Fe2O3 solid solution thin films were investigated by combining x-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES), x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) for two different crystallographic projections, and first-principles theoretical calculations. The Fe L-edge XANES and XMCD spectra reveal that Fe is in the mixed-valent Fe2+–Fe3+ states while Fe2+ ions are mainly responsible for the magnetization. Moreover, the experimental Fe L-edge XANES and XMCD spectra change depending on the incident x-ray directions, and the theoretical spectra explain such spectral features. We also find a large orbital magnetic moment, which can originate the magnetic anisotropy of this system. On the other hand, although the valence state of Ti was interpreted to be 4+ from the Ti L-edge XANES, XMCD signals indicate that some electrons are present in the Ti-3d orbital, which are coupled antiparallel to the magnetic moment of Fe2+ ions.

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