Eur. Phys. J. B 71, 435-437 (2009)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2009-00320-3

Strain effects on the electric polarization of BiMnO₃

Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, USA

Corresponding author: ^a ajhatt@mrl.ucsb.edu

Received: 7 March 2009
Revised: 6 July 2009
Published online: 26 September 2009

Abstract

BiMnO₃ has long been at the forefront of multiferroics research. Controversy exists, however, over whether it is actually ferroelectric and thus multiferroic, or whether the stereochemically active lone pairs order in an anti-polar centrosymmetric arrangement. Here we investigate the effect of epitaxial strain on the electronic ordering and symmetry of BiMnO₃ to determine whether strain effects might explain the apparently contradictory experimental results regarding ferroelectricity. Using ab-initio methods, we calculate the polarization of BiMnO₃ under bi-axial strain in the pseudo-cubic (001) plane, examining both tensile and compressive values of strain. We find no significant polarization or re-ordering of Bi lone-pairs under experimentally achievable strain values, and conclude that BiMnO₃ remains centrosymmetric and non-polar.