Abstract
Although BiFeO3 is the most extensively investigated multiferroic material, its magnetoelectic couplings are barely understood. Here we report a thorough study of the magentoelectric (ME) couplings in spin-cycloidal buk BiFeO3 using first-principles calculations and microscopic spin-wave models compared with neutron-scattering measurements. We find that huge exchange-striction (ES) polarizations, i.e. the electric response of the magnetic exchange through ferroelectric and antiferrodistortive distortions, is giant enough to dominate over all other ME couplings. We show that BiFeO3 has a hidden record-high spin-driven polarization (∼3 μC/cm2) at room-temperature. The huge ES polarizations can be tuned by coupling to the antiferrodistortive rotations.
