Room-Temperature Multiferroic Hexagonal LuFeO3

Abstract

We observed the coexistence of ferroelectricity and weak ferromagnetism at room temperature in the hexagonal phase of LuFeO3 stabilized by epitaxial thin film growth. While the ferroelectricity in hexagonal LuFeO3 can be understood as arising from its polar structure, the observation of weak ferromagnetism at room temperature is remarkable considering the frustrated triangular spin structure. An explanation of the room temperature weak ferromagnetism is proposed in terms of a subtle lattice distortion revealed by the structural characterization. The combination of ferroelectricity and weak ferromagnetism in epitaxial films at room temperature offers great potential for the application of this novel multiferroic material in next generation devices.