Optical spectroscopic investigation on the coupling of electronic and magnetic structure in multiferroic hexagonal R MnO3 (R=Gd, Tb, Dy, and Ho) thin films

We investigated the effects of temperature and magnetic field on the electronic structure of hexagonal R MnO3 (R=Gd, Tb, Dy, and Ho) thin films using optical spectroscopy. As the magnetic ordering of the system was disturbed, a systematic change in the electronic structure was identified in this series. The optical-absorption peak near 1.7 eV showed an unexpectedly large shift of more than 150 meV from 300 to 15 K, accompanied by an anomaly of the shift at the Néel temperature. The magnetic-field dependent measurement clearly revealed a sizable shift of the corresponding peak when a high magnetic field was applied. Our findings indicated strong coupling between the magnetic ordering and the electronic structure in the multiferroic hexagonal R MnO3 compounds. © 2008 The American Physical Society.