Journal
SCIENCE ADVANCES
Volume 6, Issue 7, Pages -Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aay7661
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Funding
- Russian Science Foundation [16-12-10531]
- Bulgarian National Science Fund BNSF [DN-08/9]
- Spanish Ministry of Economy, Competitiveness and Universities, through the Severo Ochoa Programme for Centres of Excellence in RD [SEV-2015-0496]
- AEI/FEDER, EU [MAT2017-85232-R]
- Generalitat de Catalunya [2017 SGR 1377]
- European Union [731096]
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CuO is the only known binary multiferroic compound, and due to its high transition temperature into the multiferroic state, it has been extensively studied. In comparison to other prototype multiferroics, the nature and even the existence of the high-temperature incommensurate paraelectric phase (AF3) were strongly debated-both experimentally and theoretically-since it is stable for only a few tenths of a kelvin just below the Neel temperature. Until now, there is no proof by neutron diffraction techniques owing to its very small ordered Cu magnetic moment. Here, we demonstrate the potential of spherical neutron polarimetry, first, in detecting magnetic structure changes, which are not or weakly manifest in the peak intensity and, second, in deducing the spin arrangement of the so far hypothetic AF3 phase. Our findings suggest two coexisting spin density waves emerging from an accidental degeneracy of the respective states implying a delicate energy balance in the spin Hamiltonian.
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