Role of the magnetic ordering on the dielectric response of M 2V2O7 (M Co and Cu) divanadates

Abstract

We have synthesized two divanadates M2+V2+O 7 (M2+ Co2+ and Cu2), that are known to show different and complex magnetic arrangements at low temperatures and have studied their dielectric behavior. We have observed a change in the slope of the dielectric constant at the magnetic transition temperature, result which confirms the existence of magnetodielectric coupling in these two divanadates. The origin of the magnetodielectric coupling seems to be different in the Cu- and Co-compounds, although in both cases it is related to their frustrated magnetic arrangement. In Cu2V2O7, the dielectric anomaly arises from a spin canting due to the antisymmetric exchange which is allowed by structural symmetry. In the Co-divanadate, the structural symmetry does not allow antisymmetric exchange but the compound shows correlation between the behavior of the dielectric constant and inverse magnetization, which points to a dependence of its electrical polarization with the pair correlation function of neighboring magnetic spins. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.