Evolution of diffuse microscopic phases and magnetism in Ca, Fe co-doped BaTiO3

Structural transitions in BaTiO3 are known to pass through various diffuse phase transitions due to micro-scale compositional inhomogeneities. In this paper, evolution of such phases have been studied under manipulative conditions, where A-site doping by Ca2+ ions favors cubic environment but hexagonality is preferred by simultaneous B-site doping by Fe3+ ions. As test cases, Ba0.85Ca0.15Ti0.95Fe0.05O3 (BCFTO155) and Ba0.8Ca0.2Ti0.94Fe0.06O3 (BCFTO206) samples have been grown in optical floating zone furnace and structurally characterized. The dc magnetization measurements demonstrated existence of different magnetic interactions in both the samples, and the behavior have been explained by the microstates of the system. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.