Enhancement of magnetoelectric operating temperature in compressed Cr2O3 under hydrostatic pressure

The effect of hydrostatic pressure on structure and magnetism was investigated by a combined theoretical and experimental study for Cr2O3 showing the linear magnetoelectric effect below the Néel temperature T N ≈ 307 K. Based on first-principles calculations and Monte-Carlo simulations, we predicted that T N linearly increases with increasing applied pressure P with the slope of (1/T N)(dT N/dP) = +1.9 × 10−2 GPa−1. This theoretical prediction was qualitatively verified by our experimental observation about the pressure dependence of T N, which was detected by measurements of dielectric constant through the magnetoelectric coupling [(1/T N)(dT N/dP) = +1.6 × 10−2 GPa−1]. These results provide an effective way to enhance magnetoelectric operating temperature in the rare room-temperature magnetoelectric, Cr2O3.