FAST TRACK COMMUNICATION Magnetic field induced ferroelectric to relaxor crossover in Tb1−xCaxMnO3

The influence of magnetic field on the electrical properties of Tb1−x Cax MnO3 has been investigated by means of dielectric, polarization and neutron diffraction measurements. A field of 6 T applied along the b-axis induces a crossover from ferroelectric to relaxor behavior for the x = 0.02 compound at temperatures close to the ferroelectric transition. The mechanism of this field induced crossover involves a decrease in the coherence length of the Mn-spin-spiral structure due to increasing electron hopping rates associated with double exchange. Moreover, a large negative magnetocapacitance is observed at the freezing temperature for x = 0.05, which originates from suppression of the relaxor state and thus represents a new mechanism of magnetocapacitance. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version) 1