Janus particles with coupled electric and magnetic moments make a disordered magneto-electric medium

Abstract

We demonstrate that by combining permanent electric and magnetic moments in particles, it is possible to realize a new type of medium that allows for a cross-correlation between electric and magnetic properties of matter, known as magnetoelectric coupling. Magnetoelectric materials have so far been restricted to systems that exhibit long-range order in their electric and magnetic moments. Here, we show that a room-temperature, switchable magnetoelectric can be realized that is naturally disordered. The building blocks are Tellegen particles that orient in either an electric or a magnetic field.