Executive Summary : | Multiferroic materials, where two or more ferroic orders coexist in a single phase, have gained significant interest in the past decade due to their variety of magnetoelectric (ME) phenomena. These materials, particularly those with strong ME coupling, are crucial for next-generation electronic devices. The challenge of understanding the mechanism related to spin-driven multiferroicity and the parameters responsible for ME coupling is also significant. This proposal aims to investigate the multiferroic properties of two unexplored series of oxygen-deficient perovskites, BaRFeO₄ and RBaCuFeO₅. Both materials show excellent potentials for spin-induced FE with noticeable ME coupling. The unique arrangement of magnetic ions in orthorhombic BaRFeO₄ causes a complex magnetic ground state, while anomalies in dielectric response near the cycloidal spin state indicate the probable existence of electric polarization. For RBaCuFeO₅ materials, the near room temperature FE coupled with the spiral-spin transition varies significantly with Cu/Fe disorder, offering great potential for designing materials with ME coupling close to room temperature. The project seeks funding to develop a synthesis laboratory at PI's institute and establish individual experimental setups for measuring temperature variation of dielectric response and electric polarization using the available 4 K CCR system at Co-PI's laboratory. |