Hybrid improper ferroelectricity in Ruddlesden- Popper Ca3(Ti,Mn)2O7 ceramics

作者:Liu, X. Q.*; Wu, J. W.; Shi, X. X.; Zhao, H. J.; Zhou, H. Y.; Qiu, R. H.; Zhang, W. Q.; Chen, X. M.
来源:Applied Physics Letters, 2015, 106(20): 202903.
DOI:10.1063/1.4921624

摘要

The hybrid improper ferroelectricity (HIF) has been proposed as a promising way to create multiferroic materials with strong magnetoelectric coupling by the first-principle calculation, and the experimental evidences of HIF in Ruddlesden-Poper Ca-3(Ti1-xMnx)(2)O-7 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.15) ceramics have been shown in the present work. The room temperature ferroelectric hysteresis loops are observed in these ceramics, and a polar orthorhombic structure with two oxygen tilting modes has been confirmed by the X-ray powder diffraction. A first-order phase transition around 1100K in Ca3Ti2O7 was evidenced, and the temperatures of phase transitions decrease linearly with increasing of the contents of Mn4+ ions. Based on the result of first-principle calculations, the polarization should be reversed by switching through the mediated Amam phase in Ca3Ti2O7 ceramics.