Additional transition induced by magnetoelectric interaction in ferroelectromagnet Pb(Fe1/2Nb1/2)O3

Besides the two phase transitions known in ferroelectromagnets, an additional transition was observed experimentally in Pb(Fe1/2Nb1/2)O3 and the possible mechanism was explored. The magnetic moment shows that anomalous increases when the temperature goes down away from the Néel temperature of 20–30 K. The existence of the hysteresis verifies the weak ferromagnetic property. This additional phase transition is considered to originate from the magnetoelectric coupling between the ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic orders in this compound. From the Mössbauer parameter analysis, it is confirmed that the hybridization of the O 2p, Fe 3d and Nb 4d electron states makes the realization of magnetoelectric coupling possible.