  A re-entrant novel phase has been observed in the hexagonal ferroelectric
HoMnO3 in the presence of magnetic fields, in the temperature ranges defined by
the plateau of the dielectric constant anomaly. The dielectric plateau evolves
with fields from a narrow sharp dielectric peak at the Mn-spin rotation
transition at 32.8 K in zero magnetic field. Such a field-induced dielectric
plateau anomaly appears both in the temperature sweep at a constant field and
in the field sweep at a constant temperature without detectable hysteresis.
This is attributed to the indirect coupling between the ferroelectric and
antiferromagnetic orders, arising from an antiferromagnetic domain wall effect,
where the magnetic order parameter of the Mn subsystem has to change sign
across the ferroelectric domain wall in the compound, that influences the
ferroelectric domains via a local magnetostrictive effect.
