Effects of Cr doping on the magnetic properties of multiferroic YMnO3

We have synthesized a series of YMn1-xCrxO3 (0 <= x <= 0.1) samples and study the effect of Cr-doping on their magnetic properties. The magnetic characterization indicates that with increasing Cr-content up to 0.1, the antiferromagnetic (AFM) transition temperature increases from 73 to 89 K. Our experiment results also indicate that the Cr-doped samples exhibit the characteristics of spin-glass state at low temperature. Moreover, the magnetic hysteresis curves of the doped samples show a weak ferromagnetic (FM) behavior. It is found that the spin-glass state of the Cr-doped samples is due to the competition between AFM superexchange and FM double-exchange interaction, induced by the Cr doping. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.