Magneto-Electric Directional Anisotropy in Polar Soft Ferromagnets of Two-Dimensional Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Perovskites.

Two-dimensional organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites (2D-OIHPs) are attracting interest due to their structural tunability and rich functional characteristics, such as ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism. Here, we report the chiral-polar ferromagnetic 2D-OIHP copper chlorides with discernable electric polarization in the inorganic layers. In these systems, the magneto-electric (ME) correlation has been clearly observed by measuring a magneto-electric directional anisotropy (MEA), in which an optical absorption coefficient changes with reversal of the light propagating direction. We have found that the MEA can be induced by a low magnetic field of about 50 mT, reflecting soft magnetic nature. The present results suggest a new paradigm for designing functional ME multiferroics, which effectively couples magnetic and electric properties.