Autferroicity: concept, candidates, and applications

Abstract: Autferroicity is a newly proposed form of hybrid ferroicity, which is a sister branch of multiferroicity. It is characterized by the mutually exclusive magnetic and polar phases within a single system, giving a unique seesaw-type magnetoelectric coupling. This perspective provides a theoretical overview of its underlying concept, phase diagram characteristics, and representative candidates such as Ti-based trichalcogenide monolayers, while also highlighting its potential applications in nonvolatile memory devices and true random number generation.