The pyrochlore lattice, A2B2O7 (A= rare earth B= transition metal), is capable of possessing many exciting properties due to the wide range of cations that can be located on the A and B sites. However, the geometric frustration that is innately present in the pyrochlore lattice prohibits many properties that rely on correlated dipoles, such as multiferroism. Multiferroic materials can be harnessed for a diverse range of unique technological applications due the interaction of magnetic dipoles and electric dipoles. Magnetic behavior of such materials can be controlled through electrical means, and without the use of less convenient magnetic fields. For example, they have potential in multistate memory devices with electrical writing and nondestructive magnetic reading operations. Beyond just the potential to use multiferroics for creating novel electronic devices, the study of correlated behavior in these materials is of fundamental importance, which motivates work that explores if multiferroicity can be achieved in pyrochlores. Currently, not much is known about the mechanism behind the formation of correlated phases in which magnetic and electric spins are interdependent. Here we employ X-ray and neutron total scattering to perform detailed structural characterizations and gain more insight into the interaction of electrical and magnetic dipoles on the pyrochlore lattice. A thorough understanding of this structural mechanism would help predict which compositions could give rise to multiferroicity in pyrochlores, and enhance our understanding of the interaction of dipoles in frustrated systems.

Exploring multiferroic potential in pyrochlores through structural characterization

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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