Magneto-electric coupling in type-I multiferroic ScFeO$_3$
  We investigate the electronic structure and the ferroelectric properties of the recently discovered multiferroic ScFeO$_3$ by means of ab-initio calculations. The $3d$ manifold of Fe in the half-filled configuration naturally favors an antiferromagnetic ordering, with a theoretical estimate of the antiferromagnetic N\'eel temperature in good agreement with the experimental values. We find that the inversion symmetry-breaking is driven by the off-centering of Sc atoms, which results in a large ferroelectric polarization of $\sim$105\,$\mu$C/cm$^{2}$. Surprisingly the ferroelectric polarization is sensitive to the local magnetization of the Fe atoms resulting in a large negative magnetoelectric interaction. This behavior is unexpected in type-I multiferroic materials because the magnetic and ferroelectric orders are of different origins. 
Gianluca Giovannetti, Danilo Puggioni, Paolo Barone, Silvia Picozzi,   James Rondinelli, Massimo Capone
cond-mat.mtrl-sci cond-mat.str-el