Orthorhombic BiFeO3

Abstract

A new orthorhombic phase of the multiferroic BiFeO3 has been created via strain engineering by growing it on a NdScO3(110)(o) substrate. The tensile-strained orthorhombic BiFeO3 phase is ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic at room temperature. A combination of nonlinear optical second harmonic generation and piezoresponse force microscopy revealed that the ferroelectric polarization in the orthorhombic phase is along the in-plane < 110 >(pc) directions. In addition, the corresponding rotation of the antiferromagnetic axis in this new phase was observed using x-ray linear dichroism. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.247606