A Study of the Multiferroic State Under High Pressure for Co doped MnWO$_4$

Multiferroic materials are well understood to be sensitive to small perturbations induced through chemical substitution, magnetic and electric fields, or external pressure. These sensitivities can result in rich and complex phase diagrams to explore; one such system is Co doped MnWO$_4$. To gain further insight into this system, high pressure measurements were conducted up to 18 kbars. Results thus far suggest that, in a Co doping range near 13 %, pressure causes a flop of the ferroelectric polarization from the a-axis to the b-axis, also resulting in a sizable increase of the polarization value. This effect is explained by a change from the a-c spiral to the conical spin structure induced by external pressure.