On the magnetically driven ferroelectric phase in GdMnO3

At room temperature, GdMnO3 is a paraelectric and paramagnetic with a distorted perovskite structure of orthorhombic symmetry (space group Pnma). On cooling, it undergoes a phase transition sequence to a magnetic incommensurate phase ( k = δ(T ) a∗; Tc1 = 42 K) and a A-type antiferromagnetic phase (...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ribeiro, J. L. (author)
Format: article
Language:eng
Published: 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1822/13984
Country:Portugal
Oai:oai:repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt:1822/13984
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Summary:At room temperature, GdMnO3 is a paraelectric and paramagnetic with a distorted perovskite structure of orthorhombic symmetry (space group Pnma). On cooling, it undergoes a phase transition sequence to a magnetic incommensurate phase ( k = δ(T ) a∗; Tc1 = 42 K) and a A-type antiferromagnetic phase (Tc2 = 27 K). At low temperatures (T ≤ 12K), a magnetic field applied along the a-axis destabilizes the antiferromagnetic phase and induces a first order transition to a magnetic commensurate modulated phase ( k = 14 a∗) that is also ferroelectric ( P// c ). This work analyses this field induced phase transition from the point of view of the symmetry and Landau theory.