Magnetoelectric coupling and spin-canting in FeCr<inf>2</inf>O<inf>4</inf> ferrimagnet

Abstract

Within the framework of the quantum mechanical approach, the microscopic theory for magnetoelectric coupling and spin-canting in the spin ordered FeCr2O4 is discussed. We describe two possible mechanisms of magnetoelectric coupling caused by the combined action of the odd crystal field from the tetrahedral environment of the iron ions, the spin–orbit interaction and the exchange field acting on the 3d iron electrons from the chromium spins. We also consider sources of spin-canting. The first one is DM interaction which induces an angle-canting about 2°, the second is a new one due to the common action of the Jahn–Teller and spin–orbit couplings, which yields up to the 50°.