Magnetic order of multiferroicErMn2O5studied by resonant soft x-ray Bragg diffraction

Abstract

Resonant magnetic soft x-ray diffraction is used to study the magnetic order of the Mn sublattices in multiferroic ErMn 2 O 5 . Data were collected at the Mn L 2,3 edges as a function of temperature, incident polarization, including the analysis of scattered polarizations for selected azimuths. The energy dependence of the magnetic reflections depends on the azimuthal angle in the commensurate magnetic ͑CM͒ ferroelectric ͑FE͒ phase, indicating different contributions to the scattering. In the incommensurate magnetic ͓two-dimensional ͑2D͒-ICM͔ phase, the two observed reflections ͑1 / 2 Ϯ ␦ x 0 1/ 4+␦ z ͒ have distinct energy dependences too.Different origins of these differences in spectral shape are discussed. The azimuthal angle dependence at the L 3 edge can only be qualitatively described by a generalized magnetic model. The observed discrepancies may indicate the importance of magnetoelectric multipole scattering to these reflections. Reciprocal mesh scans show diffuse scattering along q and perpendicular to q as well as along the ͑h 0 0͒ direction in the CM phase. Diffuse scattering is also observed along ͑h 0 0͒ in the one-dimensional-ICM phase. At higher temperatures, in the 2D-ICM phase, the diffuse magnetic scattering is almost isotropic.

Advances in the understanding of multiferroics through soft X-ray diffraction

“…This resonant lineshape is somewhat different to that reported by Koo et al [29], who show a similar intensity at the L 2 and L 3 edges, whereas we measure a L 3 edge intensity far greater than the intensity of the L 2 . The resonance we show here is much more similar to that seen by Staub et al [30] in ErMn 2 O 7 leading us to speculate that the sample studied by Koo may have had a substantial magnetically 'dead' layer that affected their resonance. The measurements in this letter were taken at 28 K within the commensurate region.…”

Magnetic structure and electric field effects in multiferroic YMn2O5

“…The influence of the erbium magnetic moment in the magnetic structure could also be related to the unsatisfactory agreement of the observed azimuthal angle dependence with the general model in that compound. 18 Yttrium being non magnetic, such a contribution is absent in the present study on YMn 2 O 5 . This results in a much better modeling of the azimuthal angle dependence of the yttrium compound.…”

“…7,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23] The soft x-ray range has the advantage to directly probe the 3d Mn and 4f R states using the L 2,3 and the M 4,5 edge resonances, respectively. Such technique has been previously used to study the Er 7,18 and Tb 20-22 compounds of the RMn 2 O 5 series.…”

Observation of Electronic Ferroelectric Polarization in MultiferroicYMn2O5

“…2, RSXS-intensity distributions in the (H0L) plane are presented for the LTIC-(left column) and the C phase (right column). The two (H0L) maps in the upper row of the figure were taken with the photon energy tuned to the main absorption peak of the Mn L 3 edge at 644.6 eV [16]. At this photon energy RSXS becomes extremely sensitive to magnetic order on the Mn sites [17].…”