Improper ferroelectricity in helicoidal antiferromagnet Cu3Nb2O8

• We study the multiferroic property of Cu3Nb2O8.
• Magnetic field dependent dielectric constant and specific heat are reported.
• Ferro-axial model is found to be more appropriate to explain the magneto-electric data.

Cu3Nb2O8 is an unusual multiferroic compound that undergoes a series of magnetic ordering at low temperatures. Concurrent development of electric polarization has been reported at TN1~25 K corresponding to a non-collinear helicoidal ordering (Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 137205 (2011)). But questions remain on the microscopic origin of such phenomena. In this communication, we report a detailed study of induced polar ordering in Cu3Nb2O8 by performing polarization, magnetization, dielectric constant and heat capacity measurements over a broad range of temperature and magnetic field. The dielectric constant shows suppression in the magnetic field but it does not shift to lower temperature with the application of external field. The appearance of magneto-dielectric effect signifies the contribution of q-dependent magnetic correlation function with enhanced weightage in the presence of magnetic field. This magnetic correlation function is associated with the ferro-axial vector and our overall results support this mechanism for the observation of muliferroicity in Cu3Nb2O8.