Evidence for a New Magnetoelectric Effect of Current-Induced Magnetization in a Toroidal Magnetic Ordered State of UNi$_4$B

Abstract

Magnetization measurements under direct electric currents were performed for toroidal magnetic ordered state of UNi$_4$B to test a recent theoretical prediction of current-induced magnetization in a metallic system lacking local inversion symmetry.We found that each of the electric currents parallel to [$2\bar{1}\bar{1}0$] and [$0001$] in the hexagonal 4-index notation induces uniform magnetization in the direction of [$01\bar{1}0$].The observed behavior of the induced magnetization is essentially consistent with the theoretical prediction; however it also shows an inconsistency suggesting that the antiferromagnetic state of UNi$_4$B could not simply be regarded as a uniform toroidal order in the ideal honeycomb layered structure.