Many technological applications of multiferroics are based on their ability to reconstruct the domain structure (DS) under the action of small external fields. In the present paper we analyze the different scenarios of the DS behavior in a multiferroic that shows simultaneously ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic ordering on the different systems of magnetic ions. We consider the way to control a composition of the DS and macroscopic properties of the sample by an appropriate field treatment. It is found that the sensitivity of the DS to the external magnetic field and the magnetic susceptibility in a low-field region are determined mainly by the de-stressing effects (that have a magnetoelastic origin). In a particular case of the Sr${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_4$Cl${}_2$ crystal we anticipate the peculiarities of the elastic and magnetoelastic properties at $T\approx 100$ K.

• Received 16 March 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.83.054424