Magnetoelectric coupling and multiferroic materials

Abstract

Abstract Magnetoelectric materials are those where the magnetism can be affected by an external electric field, or, conversely, those where electric polarization is affected by a magnetic field. Many magnetoelectric materials are multiferroic, meaning that they simultaneously possess spontaneous ferroelectric and magnetic ordering, but this is not an essential requirement. Magnetoelectrics and multiferroics have become an important area of research on account of their interesting fundamental science and potentially useful applications in memory devices and magnetovoltaic transducers. This chapter reviews the types of magnetoelectric coupling that exist, the magnitude of the effect and its limits, the types of materials that have it, and how is it measured. Throughout, the chapter emphasizes points that are usually overlooked in the literature, such as non-oxide materials, fundamental differences between linear and quadratic coupling, or experimental artifacts in measurements.