title: Ferroelectric polarization flop in a frustrated magnet MnWO4 induced by a magnetic field.
abstract: The relationship between magnetic order and ferroelectric properties has been investigated for MnWO4 with a long-wavelength magnetic structure. Spontaneous electric polarization is observed in an elliptical spiral spin phase. The magnetic-field dependence of electric polarization indicates that the noncollinear spin configuration plays a key role for the appearance of the ferroelectric phase. An electric polarization flop from the b direction to the a direction has been observed when a magnetic field above 10 T is applied along the b axis. This result demonstrates that an electric polarization flop can be induced by a magnetic field in a simple system without rare-earth 4f moments.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takenobu
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwasa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arima