Multiferroic properties of CaMn7O12

Abstract

We report that CaMn7O12 is a new magnetic multiferroic material. The appearance of a ferroelectric polarization coinciding with the magnetic phase transition (∼90 K) suggests the presence of ferroelectricity induced by magnetism, further confirmed by its strong magnetoelectric response. With respect to other known magnetic multiferroics, CaMn7O12 displays attractive multiferroic properties, such as a high ferroelectric critical temperature and large polarization. More importantly, these results open a new avenue to search for magnetic multiferroics in the catalog of doped oxides.