Magnetoelectric interaction phenomena in materials

Following the phenomenological approach of Landau and Lifshitz the existence of linear magnetoelectric effect in antiferromagnetic Cr₂O₃ was predicted by Dzyaloshinskii which was later experimentally confirmed by Astrov and Folenet al. Magnetoelectric phenomenon has been observed in several single-phase materials in which simultaneous electric and magnetic ordering coexists and in two-phase composites in which the participating phases are the ferroelectric and magnetic. The author’s group has recently undertaken a systematic study of the preparation, characterization and detection of the (ME) _H output in a few single-phase materials and two-phase composites. This article describes the magnetoelectric phenomenon in general and recent work carried out in the author’s group.