Magnetic shape-memory effect in SrRuO3

The magnetic shape-memory effect -- magnetic-field-induced plastic deformations that return to the initial shape upon heating -- is intensively studied in intermetallic Heusler materials. Here, the authors see this effect for the metallic oxide SrRuO${}₃$, which exhibits a structural phase transition at high temperature and ferromagnetic ordering at six times a lower temperature. Neutron diffraction and macroscopic analyses on SrRuO${}₃$ single crystals show that moderate magnetic fields induce strong structural deformations resulting from the rearrangement of structural domains. The shape-memory effect is observed by modest heating to the paramagnetic phase, where the initial arrangement of structural domains already recovers, although the temperature remains well below the structural phase transition.