American Physical Society, Physical review B, 5(84), 2011
DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.84.054440
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Magnetically driven ferroelectric atomic displacements of the order of 10-3 Å have been observed in orthorhombic (perovskite like) YMnO3 by a single-crystal synchrotron x-ray diffraction. The refined polar structure shows the characteristic bond alternation driven by the exchange striction in staggered Mn-O-Mn arrays with ↑↑↓↓ type ordering, giving rise to a spontaneous polarization along the a axis. First-principles calculations based on the Berry phase method as well as on the experimentally refined crystal structure can reproduce the observed polarization value.