Unconventional ferroelectric transition in the multiferroic compound TbMnO revealed by the absence of an anomaly in -polarized phonon dispersion

梶本 亮一; 佐賀山 基*; 佐々井 健蔵*; 福田 竜生; 筒井 智嗣*; 有馬 孝尚*; 廣田 和馬*; 三井 由佳利*; 吉澤 英樹*; Baron, A. Q. R.*; et al.

Physical Review Letters, 102(24), p.247602_1 - 247602_4, 2009/06

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.247602

TbMnO exhibits a spontaneous electric polarization along concomitantly with a spiral spin ordering modulated along below = 28 K. We have performed inelastic X-ray scattering measurements on a single crystal of TbMnO to clarify whether phonon anomalies related to the ferroelectricity exist. We measured transverse modes, especially the Mn-O-Mn bending mode polarized along and propagating along , which we expect is most relevant to the ferroelectricity. However, no anomaly was found in the phonon dispersion below 50 meV across . The present result suggests that the mechanism of ferroelectricity in TbMnO is different from that of a conventional displacive-type ferroelectric. The weak coupling between electric polarization and lattice in TbMnO strongly suggests that the ferroelectricity is mainly derived from the spiral spin ordering.