Control of the polarization flop direction by a tilted magnetic field in multiferroic TbMnO3

In spin-driven ferroelectrics, often referred to as magnetoelectric (ME) multiferroics, a domain wall separates two magnetic as well as ferroelectric domains. Therefore, it is expected that the control of such an ME domain wall could result in a large ME effect. Here, we show that the direction of a slanted magnetic field controls whether the electric polarization (P) rotates by +90 or -90 degrees upon the P-flop transition in a prototypical spiral magnetic ferroelectric TbMnO3. This behavior is discussed in terms of the domain-wall energy of a spiral magnet in a slanted magnetic field.