Possibility of soft-matter effects in solids

Shape variation under the action of small external fields is a peculiar feature of soft matter. In the present paper we demonstrate a possibility of the analogous shape variation in the solids that combine the properties of antiferro- and ferromagnetic materials and show strong magnetoelastic coupling. The antiferromagnetic subsystem provides a macroscopic deformation of a sample in the external magnetic field while the ferromagnetic component ensures high susceptibility of the domain structure.