Multiferroicity in rare-earth nickelates RNiO3

We show that charge ordered rare-earth nickelates of the type RNiO3 (R= Ho, Lu, Pr and Nd) are multiferroic with very large magnetically induced ferroelectric (FE) polarizations. This we determine from first principles electronic structure calculations. The emerging FE polarization is directly tied to the long-standing puzzle of which kind of magnetic ordering is present in this class of materials: its direction and size indicate the type of ground-state spin configuration that is realized. Vice versa, the small energy differences between the different magnetic orderings suggest that a chosen magnetic ordering can be stabilized by cooling the system in presence of an electric field.