Moody Samuel H, Littlehales Matthew T, Mayoh Daniel A, Balakrishnan Geetha, Alba Venero Diego, Hatton Peter D, White Jonathan S
Laboratory for Neutron Scattering and Imaging (LNS), PSI Center for Neutron & Muon Science, Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), Villigen, Switzerland.
Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, United Kingdom.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jun 6;16(1):5269. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-60288-1.
The intertwined nature of magnetic and electric degrees of freedom in magnetoelectric (ME) materials is well described by ME-coupling theory. When an external electric field is applied to a ME material, the ME coupling induces unique and intriguing magnetic responses. Such responses underpin the utilisation of ME materials across diverse applications, ranging from electromagnetic sensing to low-energy digital memory technologies. Here, we use small angle neutron scattering and discover a novel magnetic response within an archetypal chiral ME material, CuOSeO. We find that the propagation direction of an incommensurate magnetic spiral is deterministically actuated and deflected along controllable trajectories. Furthermore, we predict the emergence of distinct non-linear regimes of spiral-deflection behaviour with external electric and magnetic fields, unlocking innovative devices that leverage controlled and customisable variations in macroscopic polarisation and magnetisation.
磁电（ME）材料中磁自由度和电自由度的相互交织特性已被磁电耦合理论很好地描述。当外部电场施加到磁电材料上时，磁电耦合会引发独特且引人入胜的磁响应。这些响应是磁电材料在从电磁传感到低能量数字存储技术等各种应用中得以利用的基础。在此，我们利用小角中子散射在一种典型的手性磁电材料CuOSeO中发现了一种新型磁响应。我们发现，非公度磁螺旋的传播方向会沿着可控轨迹被确定性地驱动和偏转。此外，我们预测随着外部电场和磁场的作用，会出现不同的螺旋偏转行为非线性区域，从而开启利用宏观极化和磁化的可控及可定制变化的创新型器件。
