Multiferroics

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Multiferroics ( English multiferroics ) is a collective term for all materials in which at least two ferroic ordering phenomena exist in parallel. An example would be a substance that is ferromagnetic and ferroelectric at the same time . In this case one also speaks briefly of a ferro-electromagnet (the naming is not generally recognized here).

Multiferroics are of interest from a purely scientific as well as technological point of view, because the coexistence of different long-range orders can lead to new physical effects and, as a result, new technical applications through interaction between them. One is furthest here in the field of simultaneously magnetically and electrically ordered connections. The first investigations into this began in the middle of the 20th century in the former Soviet Union on the basis of an initiative by the Russian physicists Georgi Smolenski (1910–1986) and Abram Joffe . Today, numerous research groups around the world are working in this area.

In the case of a ferromagnetically and ferroelectrically ordered material, there can be an interaction between magnetization and electrical polarization due to the so-called magnetoelectric effect , which here can be increased by orders of magnitude compared to conventional materials. This opens up the possibility of direct manipulation of the magnetic order through electric fields or the ferroelectric order through magnetic fields. From a technical point of view, the application of this effect z. B. think in terms of storage technology.

Web links