Nature of the magnetoelectric coupling in multiferroic Pb(Fe(1/2)Nb(1/2))O(3) ceramics

Abstract

In this work, electrical permittivity measurements in lead iron niobate (PFN) ceramics were performed in the frequency and temperature ranges from 10 kHz to 1.2 GHz and from 15 to 450 K, respectively. the microwave dielectric results characterized unambiguously the magnetoelectric effect in PFN and demonstrated that the nature of such coupling arises indirectly via ferroelastic contribution rather than a direct coupling between electrical and magnetic order parameters. Moreover, it was also verified that such coupling can be enhanced or suppressed depending on the relative orientation between the probing electric field and the macroscopic ferroelectric polarization.