Electronic charge transfer driven by spin cycloidal structure

Muon spin rotation and resonant soft x-ray scattering experiments on prototype multiferroics R Mn₂O₅ (R = Y, Sm) are used to demonstrate that the local electric displacements are driven by the spin-current (SC) mechanism. Small local electric displacements were evaluated by observing spin polarization at ligand O ions, for which implanted muons served as an extremely sensitive probe. Our results for YMn₂O₅ provide evidence that the spin polarization of O ions forming a spin cycloid chain with Mn spins increases in proportion to the vector spin chirality (S_i×S_j ) of the Mn ions. This relationship strongly indicates that the charge transfer between O and Mn ions is driven by the SC mechanism, which leads to the ferroelectricity accompanying O spin polarization.