title: Room temperature nanoscale ferroelectricity in magnetoelectric GaFeO3 epitaxial thin films.
abstract: We demonstrate room temperature ferroelectricity in the epitaxial thin films of magnetoelectric gallium ferrite. Piezoforce measurements show a 180° phase shift of piezoresponse upon switching the electric field indicating nanoscale ferroelectricity in the thin films. Further, temperature-dependent impedance analysis with and without the presence of an external magnetic field clearly reveals a pronounced magnetodielectric effect across the magnetic transition temperature. In addition, our first principles calculations show that Fe ions are not only responsible for ferrimagnetism as observed earlier but also give rise to the observed ferroelectricity, making gallium ferrite a unique single phase multiferroic.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, India.
authors.forename: Somdutta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
authors.forename: Amritendu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: Sushil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Auluck
authors.forename: Rajendra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.forename: Rajeev
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Ashish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Garg