The wasp-waisted hysteresis loop and exchange bias in multiferroic BaNiF4

Multiferroic BaNiF4 has been fabricated by hydrothermal method. The bifurcation between zero field cooling (ZFC) and field cooling (FC) temperature dependent magnetization (M-T) curves starts at 150 K, indicating the 2D antiferromagnetic (FM) transition. A further upturn of magnetization has been observed below 68 K in FC M-T curve, corresponding to the emergence of 3D AFM structure. Wasp-waisted hysteresis loop was observed under 130 K, which is explained by that the AFM aligned net spins from the canting of neighboring AFM spins due to Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction can be easily aligned by the magnetic field. Exchange bias effect was detected below 70 K, which has been interpreted by the magnetization pinned by the spontaneous polarization through magnetoelectric coupling.