Magnetoelectric phase diagrams of multiferroic GdMn2O5

Electric and magnetic properties of multiferroic GdMn2O5 in external magnetic fields were investigated to map out the magnetoelectric phases in this material. Due to strong magnetoelectric coupling, the dielectric permittivity is highly sensitive to phase boundaries in GdMn2O5, which allowed us to construct the field-temperature phase diagrams. Several phase transitions are observed which are strongly field dependent with respect to field orientation and strength. The phase diagram for a magnetic field along the crystallographic a axis corresponds well to a polarization step, as induced by 90 degrees rotation of Gd magnetic moments. Our results support the model of two ferroelectric sublattices, Mn-Mn and Gd-Mn, with strong R-Mn (4f - 3d) interaction for the polarization in RMn2O5.