Theory of magnetic-field-induced polarization flop in spin-spiral multiferroics

The magnetic-field-induced 90 degrees. flop of ferroelectric polarization P in a spin-spiral multiferroic material TbMnO3 is theoretically studied based on a microscopic spin model. I find that the direction of the P flop or the choice of +P-a or -P-a after the flop is governed by magnetic torques produced by the applied magnetic field H acting on the Mn spins and thus is selected in a deterministic way, in contradistinction to the naively anticipated probabilistic flop. This mechanism resolves a puzzle of the previously reported memory effect in the P direction depending on the history of the magnetic-field sweep, and enables controlled switching of multiferroic domains by externally applied magnetic fields. My Monte-Carlo analysis also uncovers that the magnetic structure in the P parallel to a phase under H parallel to b is not a previously anticipated simple ab-plane spin cycloid but a conical spin structure.