The magneto-electric properties of RMnO3 compounds

The RMnO3 compounds adopt the orthorhombic perovskite crystal structure for large rare earth ions R, and a hexagonal crystal structure for small rare earth ions. In both crystal structures, the rare earth ions occupy non-centered positions which can result in long-range dipolar order at low temperature. Consequently, these materials exhibit coexistence of magnetic and electric ordering. The crystal packing and chemical bonding of these open-shell systems provides information about mechanisms of magneto-ferroelectric ordering and magneto-electric coupling