Coupling of (ferro)electricity and magnetism through Coulomb blockade in Composite Multiferroics

Abstract

Composite multiferroics are materials exhibiting the interplay of ferroelectricity, magnetism, and strong electron correlations. Typical example --- magnetic nano grains embedded in a ferroelectric matrix. Coupling of ferroelectric and ferromagnetic degrees of freedom in these materials is due to the influence of ferroelectric matrix on the exchange coupling constant via screening of the intragrain and intergrain Coulomb interaction. Cooling typical magnetic materials the ordered state appears at lower temperatures than the disordered state. We show that in composite multiferroics the ordered magnetic phase may appear at higher temperatures than the magnetically disordered phase. In non-magnetic materials such a behavior is known as inverse phase transition.