Experimental study reveals light-induced electronic polarization hysteresis in antiferromagnetic FePS3, suggesting new mechanisms for optical control in magnetic memory devices.
Key Points
Investigate the optical manipulation of electronic polarization and its hysteretic behavior in the layered antiferromagnetic semiconductor FePS3.
Measured optical linear dichroism in FePS3 below the Néel temperature to evaluate optical anisotropy without structural symmetry breaking.
Probed electronic polarization responses under optical excitation at photon energies of 1.6 eV and 2.0 eV.
Net polarization aligned along the a-axis at 1.6 eV via dipolar polarization and shifted to the b-axis at 2.0 eV through combined dipolar and octupolar polarizations caused by directional charge transfer.
Electronic polarization exhibited distinct hysteresis at 2.0 eV due to octupolar polarization and symmetry breaking within the spin lattice, whereas hysteresis was absent at 1.6 eV.