Enhanced Spin‐Reorientation Transition and Polarization in DyFeO 3 Thin Films

ABSTRACT Epitaxial strain in antiferromagnetic orthoferrite thin films is predicted to significantly enhance magnetic and polar properties with a shift of the polar response from below 4 K to room temperature and above by strengthening the rare earth‐Fe interaction. In DyFeO 3 , the Fe‐spins undergo a spin reorientation transition between 40–50 K, and a magnetic field‐induced ferroelectric phase transition is triggered by Dy ordering and displacement below 4 K. Here we report an increase in the spin reorientation temperature by more than 20 K in compressively strained DyFeO 3 films. The expected sharp spin transition is several 10 K wide, incomplete and largely suppressed, with the magnetic point group remaining at Γ 4 at all temperatures. The strain‐induced Dy ordering above 4 K reduces the magnetic symmetry and introduces room‐temperature polar order with the electrical polarization vector oriented along [100] and polarization values of more than 3 µC/cm 2 .