Magnetoelectricity in multiferroics: a theoretical perspective

Shuai Dong; Hongjun Xiang; Elbio Dagotto

doi:10.1093/nsr/nwz023

Magnetoelectricity in multiferroics: a theoretical perspective

Natl Sci Rev. 2019 Jul;6(4):629-641. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwz023. Epub 2019 Feb 18.

Authors

Shuai Dong¹, Hongjun Xiang^{2

3}, Elbio Dagotto^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ School of Physics, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China.
² Key Laboratory of Computational Physical Sciences (Ministry of Education), State Key Laboratory of Surface Physics, and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
³ Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing 210093, China.
⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
⁵ Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.

Abstract

The key physical property of multiferroic materials is the existence of coupling between magnetism and polarization, i.e. magnetoelectricity. The origin and manifestations of magnetoelectricity can be very different in the available plethora of multiferroic systems, with multiple possible mechanisms hidden behind the phenomena. In this review, we describe the fundamental physics that causes magnetoelectricity from a theoretical viewpoint. The present review will focus on mainstream physical mechanisms in both single-phase multiferroics and magnetoelectric heterostructures. The most recent tendencies addressing possible new magnetoelectric mechanisms will also be briefly outlined.

Keywords: magnetoelectricity; multiferroics; spin–charge coupling; spin–lattice coupling; spin–orbit coupling.