Spin correlations in La2-xSrxCoO4 (0.3 < or = x < or = 0.6) have been studied by neutron scattering. The commensurate antiferromagnetic order of La2CoO4 persists in a very short range up to a Sr content of x = 0.3, whereas small amounts of Sr suppress commensurate antiferromagnetism in cuprates and in nickelates. La2-xSrxCoO4 with x > 0.3 exhibits incommensurate spin ordering with the modulation closely following the amount of doping. These incommensurate phases strongly resemble the stripe phases observed in cuprates and nickelates, but incommensurate magnetic ordering appears only at larger Sr content in the cobaltates due to a reduced charge mobility.

The chiral components in the magnetic order in multiferroic MnWO 4 have been studied by neutron diffraction using spherical polarization analysis as a function of temperature and of external electric field. We show that sufficiently close to the ferroelectric transition at T = 12.3 K it is possible to switch the chiral component by applying moderate electric fields at constant temperature. Full hysteresis cycles can be observed which indicate strong pinning of the magnetic order. MnWO 4 , furthermore, exhibits a magnetoelectric memory effect across heating into the paramagnetic and paraelectric phase.

The time dependence of switching multiferroic domains in MnWO4 has been studied by timeresolved polarized neutron diffraction. Inverting an external electric field inverts the chiral magnetic component within rise times ranging between a few and some tens of milliseconds in perfect agreement with macroscopic techniques. There is no evidence for any faster process in the inversion of the chiral magnetic structure. The time dependence is well described by a temperature-dependent rise time suggesting a well-defined process of domain reversion. As expected, the rise times decrease when heating towards the upper boundary of the ferroelectric phase. However, switching also becomes faster upon cooling towards the lower boundary, which is associated with a first-order phase transition.

All-electrical control of a dynamic magnetoelectric effect is demonstrated in a classical multiferroic manganite DyMnO3, a material containing coupled antiferromagnetic and ferroelectric orders. Due to intrinsic magnetoelectric coupling with electromagnons a linearly polarized terahertz light rotates upon passing through the sample. The amplitude and the direction of the polarization rotation are defined by the orientation of ferroelectric domains and can be switched by static voltage. These experiments allow the terahertz polarization to be tuned using the dynamic magnetoelectric effect.PACS numbers: 75.85.+t, 78.20.Jq, 78.20.Ek, 75.30.Ds Electric and magnetic field control of the propagation and the polarization state of terahertz radiation is one of the prerequisites for continuous progress of modern electronics. A number of recent developments in this direction have been achieved using multiferroics, i.e. materials simultaneously revealing electric and magnetic ordering [1][2][3][4][5]. Several multiferroics provide not only a direct coupling between static electric and magnetic properties but also give a possibility to modify dynamic susceptibilities by external fields. Application of a static magnetic field to the multiferroic materials leads to dichroism in the terahertz range [6,7] or even to more complex effects like controlled chirality [8] or directional dichroism [9][10][11]. Electric control of terahertz radiation is more difficult to realize and it has been recently demonstrated in Raman scattering experiments [12].Dynamical properties of several multiferroic materials in the terahertz range are governed by novel magnetoelectric modes called electromagnons [13][14][15][16]. Electromagnons may be defined as collective excitations of the magnetic structure which are coupled to the electric dipole moment.They may be regarded as a mixture of magnons and phonons. In orthorhombic rare earth manganites RMnO 3 one generally observes several electromagnons in the terahertz and sub-terahertz range. A strong high frequency mode around 2-3 THz is well understood on the basis of a symmetric Heisenberg exchange (HE) coupling [17,18] as a zone edge magnon which can be excited by electric component of the electromagnetic radiation. A second intensive mode existing at 0.5-1 THz has been explained using the same mechanism but including a Brillouin zone folding due to modulation of the magnetic cycloid [18,19]. In the sub-terahertz frequency range a series of weaker modes is observed in optical [14,20] and neutron scattering experiments [21]. These modes are explained as the magnetic eigenmodes of the spin cycloid in RMnO 3 . Some of these modes may get an electrical dipole activity due to the relativistic Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) mechanism. Dynamic contributions due to this mechanism have been investigated both experimentally and theoretically [20,[22][23][24][25]. In spite of its weakness, the DM interaction is a promising mechanism especially in application to spiral magnets as it connects static spontaneous ...

Neutron diffraction with spherical polarization analysis is a powerful tool for studying the multiferroic materials where the ferroelectric polarization arises from a complex magnetic structure. Analyzing the off-diagonal terms in the polarization matrix one may directly detect the chiral contributions even in a multidomain arrangement. In MnWO4 one can control the chiral magnetism by varying an electric field at constant temperature. The analysis of multiferroic hysteresis cycles at four equivalent magnetic Bragg peaks fully agrees with a nearly monodomain chiral arrangement controlled by the electric field. A pronounced asymmetry of the hysteresis cycles and memory effects point to strong pinning of the chiral magnetism in MnWO 4. We find a second-order harmonic modulation which exhibits both magnetic and structural character and which may be related with the domain pinning. The observed interference between the nuclear and the magnetic modulation is another manifestation of the coupling between the crystal structure and the magnetism in the multiferroic oxides.