Multiferroics

Multiferroics (English: Multiferroics ) is a collective term for all materials in which at least two ferroic ordering phenomena exist in parallel. An example would be a substance which is ferromagnetic and ferroelectric simultaneously. In this case they are also short of a ferro electromagnet ( the naming is here, however, not generally accepted ).

Of interest, multiferroics are both from a purely scientific and technological point of view, because the coexistence of different long-range orders can lead by interaction between these new physical effects and as a result new technical applications. Most one is here in the field of simultaneously magnetic and electrically parent compounds. First studies in this field began about 50 years ago in the former Soviet Union on the basis of an initiative by the Russian physicist GA Smolenskii and V.A. Ioffe. Today, numerous research groups worldwide deal with this area.

With a ferromagnetic and ferroelectric parent material may cause an interaction between the magnetization and an electric polarization by means of the so-called magneto -electric effect, which may be enhanced as compared to conventional materials of magnitude here. This opens up the possibility of direct manipulation of the magnetic order by electric fields and the ferroelectric order by magnetic fields. From a technical point of view, can here the application of this effect, for example, think in terms of memory technology.