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It is difficult to find magnetoelectric low-dimensional structures partly due to the lack of experimental techniques locally probing their physical nature. Here, the authors observe multiferroic ribbon-like domains in a non-multiferroic environment in MnWO₄ by optical second harmonic generation.

Domain walls in ferroelectrics can lead to phenomena different from the bulk. Here the authors achieve polarization control of charged domain walls in improper ferroelectrics by magnetic fields that convert neutral into charged domain walls.

Long-range order of electric or magnetic dipoles leads to ferroic properties such as ferromagnetism or ferroelectricity. Here, the authors find that the previously observed magnetic toroidal order in LiCoPO₄represents its own ferroic order, arising from the violation of space- and time-inversion symmetry.

Understanding antiferromagnetic dynamics enables future information technologies, but the detection remains challenging. Here, the authors show the capability of tracking the three dimensional spin motions in YMnO₃ by combining time resolved measurements of Faraday rotation and magneto-optical second harmonic generation.

Ferroelectric heterostructures exhibit a range of functional properties; however control of their growth remains a challenge. De  Luca et al., demonstrate in-situ optical second harmonic generation to monitor and tailor the polarisation and growth of multilayer barium titanate and bismuth ferrite films.

A combination of nonlinear optical experiments, piezoresponse force microscopy and Monte Carlo simulations resolves the correlation between polarization, topology and temperature for the hexagonal manganite YMnO₃—a persistent ferroelectrics puzzle.

YbRh₂Si₂ has a quantum phase transition between an antiferromagnetic phase and a so-called heavy-Fermi-liquid state. Measurements of critical slowing down suggest that the heavy-fermion quasiparticles break down at the transition.

Two 'failed' materials can perform much better when united. Such a combination exhibits magnetization and electric polarization up to room temperature, providing a basis for new magnetoelectric devices. See Letter p.523

Peer review information: Nature Communications thanks Shiqing Deng, and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. A peer review file is available.

Local rotations in crystals change our view at the inner structure of crystals and may be the key for a whole range of hidden symmetries and novel physical effects in condensed-matter systems.

The limited routes for polar texture engineering in materials restrict energy efficient applications. Here, the authors establish lattice chemistry control and the use of polarizing surfaces to manipulate electric dipole ordering in thin films.

There are currently three types of ferroic materials that are widely known; ferromagnets, ferroelectricity, and ferroelastic materials. A fourth form of ferroic order, ferrotoroidicity, has been postulated. To confirm that a material is a ferrotorodic, corresponding ferrotoroidic domains need to be observed. Spatially resolved measurements with a nonlinear optical imaging method on LiCoPO₄ were carried out, and observed ferrotoroidic domains that coexist with independent antiferromagnetic domains.

Fast and low-power electrical control of magnetic textures is expected to enable a new generation of computational devices. Here the authors show how chiral interactions determine the structure of domain walls in Tm₃Fe₅O₁₂ and lead to efficient current-driven wall motion.

The ferromagnetism of iron has been known for millennia. Now a rotational form of spontaneous crystallographic ordering has been discovered. This touches upon fundamental questions about the relation between symmetry, structure and order in matter.

By transferring the symmetry conditions of electric polarization patterns to the field of magnetism, a particularly stable magnetic configuration is obtained that could be interesting for voltage-controlled magnetic devices.

The long-range magnetic order in an artificial crystal that exhibits emergent ferrotoroidicity on the mesoscale can be manipulated by an effective magnetic vortex field that is generated by a scanning process with a magnetic tip.

The authors find the electric-field-driven motion of domain walls in the improper ferroelectric ErMnO₃, showing that they readily return to their initial position after having travelled distances exceeding 250 nm.

The ability to store arbitrary polarization states of light in an antiferromagnetic material (YMnO₃) potentially adds a new degree of freedom to data storage applications.

Researchers report the direct observation of ultrafast magnetic dynamics using the magnetic component of highly intense terahertz wave pulses with a time resolution of 8 fs. This concept provides a universal ultrafast method of visualizing magnetic excitations in the electronic ground state.

Laser-controlled writing and erasure of antiferromagnetic domains in multiferroic TbMnO₃ using light pulses of two different colours is demonstrated.

An array of nanoscale polar domains with varying conductance and that are electrically insulated by domain walls can be induced by the interplay of strain and defects in oxide thin films.

Rare-earth ions are often crucial for the emergence of multiferroicity, yet their 4f-driven magnetic domain patterns remain elusive. Using optical second harmonic generation, the authors uncover columnar Dy/Tb domains in multiferroic Dy_0.7Tb_0.3FeO₃. The domain orientation enforces charged ferroelectric walls, underscoring the pivotal role of 4f order in shaping multiferroic domains.

In h-RMnO₃, the linear magnetoelectric effect is symmetry forbidden. Here, the authors show a pronounced magnetoelectric coupling driven by superexchange interaction giving rise to types of topological defects like magnetoelectric domain walls and vortex-like singularities.

Setting any polarization value in ferroelectric thin films is a key step for their implementation in neuromorphic devices. Here, the authors demonstrate continuous modulation of the remanent polarization at the nanoscale in PbZr_0.52Ti_0.48O₃ films.

Ferroelectric dead layers can form at perovskite interfaces—a major challenge in integrating oxide thin films into devices. Here, by depositing an in-plane-polarized epitaxial buffer layer of Bi₅FeTi₃O₁₅, out-of-plane polarization is demonstrated in ultrathin films down to the single-unit-cell level.

The control of the magnetic order by optical pulses is of practical relevance for information storage as well as of fundamental interest to understand magnetic processes. Here, the authors demonstrate the control of magnetic order by changing the carrier density in Eu_1−xGd_xO via resonant photoexcitation.

Lead halide perovskite colloidal nanocrystals have promising optoelectronic properties, such as high photoluminescence quantum yields and narrow emission linewidths. Here, the authors report low-threshold amplified spontaneous emission and two kinds of lasing in nanostructured caesium lead halide perovskites.

Electric fields typically break symmetry when applied as a stimulus to materials. Here, by forming a superlattice of BiFeO₃ and TbScO₃, it is shown that an electric field can repeatedly stabilize mixed-phase polar and antipolar BiFeO₃.

Typically, magnetic phenomena result from the spontaneous order of the sublattices. Here, the cross-talk of two magnetic ions gives rise to an intrinsic, yet non-spontaneous ordering and manifests as emergent strong spin–phonon coupling in SmFeO₃.

Magnetic skyrmions are topological spin textures that hold potential for the development of post-von Neumann computing schemes. In coupled ferrimagnetic insulators, pinning effects and intentional distortions can lead to a ratchet-like current-driven motion of skyrmion bubbles.

Integrating multifunctional oxides on silicon is highly desirable. Here, the authors present asymmetric BaTiO3 superlattices on silicon exhibiting enhanced out-of-plane polarization by harnessing the interfacial strain and broken inversion symmetry.

How to maintain a robust polarization in ferroelectrics despite its inherent suppression when going to the thin-film limit is a long-standing issue. Here, the authors propose the concept of competitive and cooperative interfaces and establish robust polarization states in the ultrathin regime.

The building blocks of the nanostructures observed on Drosophila corneas are determined, and then used to create artificial nanostructures with anti-reflective and anti-adhesive properties.

Spin damping plays a fundamental role in many areas of spintronics, however, it is typically assumed that damping is irrelevant for impulsive spin excitations due to their rapid timescale. Here, the authors demonstrate that damping leads to a large and immediate spin-canting in anti-ferromagnets.

Electrode–domain wall junctions in ferroelectric ErMnO₃ act as nanoscale diodes.

Both extrinsic and intrinsic factors determine the properties of ferroic materials and are difficult to disentangle. This study on artificial crystals of planar nanomagnets with well-defined, tuneable magnetic interactions unveils the intrinsic correlations between microscopic interactions and macroscopic properties such as the domain size and morphology or the domain-wall mobility.

Using terahertz pulses, the quasiparticle dynamics of the heavy-fermion compound CeCu_6−xAu are investigated in the vicinity of its quantum critical point.

Owing to the many-body nature of quantum materials, a microscopic understanding of the interactions dictating their ground state is essential to control their dynamics. This Review summarizes how THz light is effective for both probing quantum materials and driving them into new types of out-of-equilibrium phases.

The magnetization or polarization of domain states in multiferroics can be reversed while retaining the overall domain pattern, owing to the inherent versatility in coupling the large number of multiferroic order parameters.

Multiferroic materials exhibit magnetic and ferroelectric order at the same time and provide a way to control magnetism with electric fields. We discuss the mechanisms supporting multiferroicity, multiferroic thin films and heterostructures, the non-equilibrium dynamics of multiferroics, fundamental symmetry issues and the impact of multiferroics on other research areas.