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Updated: May 21, 2026

Measuring Magnetically-Tuned Ferroelectric Polarization in Liquid Crystals
Published on: August 15, 2018
The magnetoelectric effect due to local noncentrosymmetry
V P Sakhnenko1, N V Ter-Oganessian
1Institute of Physics, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
Abstract:
Magnetoelectrics often possess ions located in noncentrosymmetric surroundings. Based on this fact we suggest a microscopic model of magnetoelectric interaction and show that the spin-orbit coupling leads to spin-dependent electric dipole moments of the electron orbitals of these ions, which results in non-vanishing polarization for certain spin configurations. The approach accounts for the macroscopic symmetry of the unit cell and is valid for both commensurate and complex incommensurate magnetic structures. The model is illustrated by the examples of MnWO(4), MnPS(3) and LiNiPO(4). Application to other magnetoelectrics is discussed.
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