Nanoscale Characterization of Multiferroic Materials

Research on multiferroic materials over the last years has greatly benefitted from new developments and advanced methodology in characterization, such as scanning probe microscopy (SPM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and synchrotron-based X-ray spectroscopy and microscopy techniques such as X-ray absorption (XAS) and X-ray circular and linear magnetic dichroism combined with photoelectron emission microscopy (XMCD- and XMLD-PEEM), Raman spectroscopy, second-harmonic generation (SHG), neutron scattering, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Mössbauer spectroscopy, to name only the more common ones. All these techniques have been applied in the study of multiferroics to extract critical information and give new insights on various length scales, including the nanoscale. In this chapter we present a general overview over major experimental techniques to characterize multiferroic materials. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014.