title: Evidence for room temperature electric polarization in RMn(2)O(5) multiferroics.
abstract: It is established that the multiferroics RMn(2)O(5) crystallize in the centrosymmetric Pbam space group and that the magnetically induced electric polarization appearing at low temperature is accompanied by a symmetry breaking. However, both our present x-ray study-performed on compounds with R=Pr,Nd,Gd,Tb, and Dy-and first-principles calculations unambiguously rule out this picture. Based on structural refinements, geometry optimization, and physical arguments, we demonstrate in this Letter that the actual space group is likely to be Pm. This turns out to be of crucial importance for RMn(2)O(5) multiferroics since Pm is not centrosymmetric. Ferroelectricity is thus already present at room temperature, and its enhancement at low temperature is a spin-enhanced process. This result is also supported by direct observation of optical second harmonic generation. This fundamental result calls into question the actual theoretical approaches that describe the magnetoelectric coupling in this multiferroic family.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, 91400 Orsay, France.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Balédent
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, 91400 Orsay, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chattopadhyay
authors.affiliation: Synchrotron SOLEIL, L'Orme des Merisiers, BP 48 Saint-Aubin, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fertey
authors.affiliation: Institut Néel, 38042 Grenoble, France.|Institut Laue Langevin, 38000 Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Lepetit
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Greenblatt
authors.affiliation: Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 3PU, England.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wanklyn
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy, Binghamton University, P.O. Box 6000, Binghamton, New York 13902, USA.
authors.forename: F O
authors.initials: FO
authors.lastname: Saouma
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy, Binghamton University, P.O. Box 6000, Binghamton, New York 13902, USA.
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, 91400 Orsay, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Foury-Leylekian