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Autori principali: Meng, Lei, He, Chen, Yen, Fei
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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Accesso online:https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.03171
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author Meng, Lei
He, Chen
Yen, Fei
author_facet Meng, Lei
He, Chen
Yen, Fei
contents Most ferroelectric crystals have their own set of unique characteristics and ammonium sulfate (NH$_4$)$_2$SO$_4$ is no exception. We report on two previously unidentified features in ammonium sulfate: 1) that there are at least two successive transitions instead of one occurring at the Curie temperature $T$$_C$ = 223 K according to dielectric constant measurements; and 2) pronounced step-like anomalies are found in the magnetic susceptibility exactly at $T$$_C$. To explain these results, we take into account that there exists a previously unidentified linear coupling between the magnetic and electric dipole moments of the NH$_4$$^+$ tetrahedra due to their rapid reorientations and distorted geometry, respectively. The magnetic moments are small, 0.0016 $μ$$_B$ for every $C$$_3$ reorientation which involve three protons (H$^+$) undergoing orbital motion. Nevertheless, short-range correlations exist in the paraelectric phase because the magnetic moments are restricted to only point along 14 possible orientations due to the symmetry and periodic nature of the potential wells. At $T$$_C$, $C$$_2$ reorientations (involving four protons) are no longer energetically feasible so the reduction in the degrees of freedom to 8 further enhances the effect of the magnetic interactions. This triggers long-range ordering of the orbital moments in an antiferromagnetic configuration along the $ab$-plane, which via Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, end up canting slightly toward the $c$-axis direction. Since there exists two types of inequivalent NH$_4$$^+$ groups that reorient at different frequencies with temperature and do not have the same degree of distortion, the emerging polar phase is ferrielectric.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_03171
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Magnetoelectric Coupling Based on Protons in Ammonium Sulfate
Meng, Lei
He, Chen
Yen, Fei
Materials Science
Most ferroelectric crystals have their own set of unique characteristics and ammonium sulfate (NH$_4$)$_2$SO$_4$ is no exception. We report on two previously unidentified features in ammonium sulfate: 1) that there are at least two successive transitions instead of one occurring at the Curie temperature $T$$_C$ = 223 K according to dielectric constant measurements; and 2) pronounced step-like anomalies are found in the magnetic susceptibility exactly at $T$$_C$. To explain these results, we take into account that there exists a previously unidentified linear coupling between the magnetic and electric dipole moments of the NH$_4$$^+$ tetrahedra due to their rapid reorientations and distorted geometry, respectively. The magnetic moments are small, 0.0016 $μ$$_B$ for every $C$$_3$ reorientation which involve three protons (H$^+$) undergoing orbital motion. Nevertheless, short-range correlations exist in the paraelectric phase because the magnetic moments are restricted to only point along 14 possible orientations due to the symmetry and periodic nature of the potential wells. At $T$$_C$, $C$$_2$ reorientations (involving four protons) are no longer energetically feasible so the reduction in the degrees of freedom to 8 further enhances the effect of the magnetic interactions. This triggers long-range ordering of the orbital moments in an antiferromagnetic configuration along the $ab$-plane, which via Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, end up canting slightly toward the $c$-axis direction. Since there exists two types of inequivalent NH$_4$$^+$ groups that reorient at different frequencies with temperature and do not have the same degree of distortion, the emerging polar phase is ferrielectric.
title Magnetoelectric Coupling Based on Protons in Ammonium Sulfate
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.03171