Materials: Ferrotoroidic ordering found

A fourth form of ferroic order has been discovered, completing the family that includes ferromagnetism — the physics behind the humble fridge magnet — ferroelectricity and ferroelasticity. The discovery of ferrotoroidic ordering could lead to new types of data-storage devices.

In any ferroic material it is expected that domains are formed; these are regions that display different orientations of the magnetic order. To observe ferrotoroidicity, Manfred Fiebig and colleagues therefore set about to observe ferrotoroidic domains, and identified them in an antiferromagnetic material called LiCoPO4 using laser-optic techniques. Their find should result in a better understanding of the physics of multiferroics, currently of interest because their combined electronic and magnetic properties mean that the same material can perform more than one task.

CONTACT

Manfred Fiebig (Universitaet Bonn, Germany)
Tel: +49 228 73 2539; E-mail: fiebig@hiskp.uni-bonn.de



Karin Rabe (Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA) N&V author
Tel: +1 732 445 4186; E-mail: rabe@physics.rutgers.edu