Multiferroic studies on polycrystalline FeV O4

We report the magnetic, dielectric and ferroelectric properties of polycrystalline iron vanadate (FeV O4), which has been recently found to exhibit multiferroicity at low temperature closely related to noncollinear magnetic orderings. The influence of external magnetic field up to 9 T on the multiferroic properties is systematically investigated. Besides the suppressing effect on the original ferroelectric transition, the strong magnetic field seems to induce a new secondary ferroelectric transition at lower temperature. And the corresponding magnetization measurement reveals a field-induced metamagnetic transition at lower temperatures than the ferroelectric transition in zero field. Our results will help to clarify the complex magnetic structure and microscopic mechanism of multiferroicity in FeV O4.

► Multiferroic properties of FeV O4 are systematically investigated.
► Ferroelectricity in FeV O4 is only concomitant with noncollinear magnetic ordering.
► External magnetic field suppresses the original multiferroic transition.
► Dielectric and ferroelectric studies suggest a new field-induced multiferroic order.