Noncentrosymmetric commensurate magnetic ordering of multiferroic ErMn2O5

The noncentrosymmetric magnetic structure of ErMn2O5 has been shown to be very similar to that of HoMn2O5 (Vecchini et al 2008 Phys. Rev. B 77 134434). The magnetic modulation at 25 K has propagation vector (k) over right arrow = (1/2, 0, 1/4) and the symmetry imposes very few constraints on the magnetic configurations allowed. Only by combining the results of bulk magnetization measurements, powder and single crystal neutron diffraction and spherical neutron polarization analysis was it possible to distinguish clearly between different models. The susceptibility measurements show that the erbium magnetic moments are aligned parallel to the c-axis indicating strong single ion anisotropy. Spherical neutron polarimetry demonstrates the presence of two unequally populated chirality domains in ErMn2O5 single crystals. X-ray diffraction measurements on an ErMn2O5 powder using synchrotron radiation show that the buckling angles of the Mn-O-Mn bond change below the transition to the ferroelectric phase.