Defect-induced magnetism: Test of dilute magnetism in Fe-doped hexagonal BaTiO3 single crystals

Single crystalline Fe-doped hexagonal BaTiO3 samples with varying oxygen content are created by specifically intended post-growth annealing treatments, in order to check the influence of defects on the unusual high temperature ferromagnetism observed in this system. The various defects have been shown to play a crucial role in dilute magnetic systems and therefore, it is important to carry out this check for the Fe-doped BaTiO3 system also, in which unusual ferromagnetism was reported even in its bulk single crystalline form. The x-ray diffraction and dielectric studies carried out here have confirmed that the Fe doping of Ti is intrinsic, while the high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) studies proved the absence of unwanted magnetic metal clusters in the sample. The transport studies show that the oxygen concentrations could be varied substantially by the thermal treatments. Finally, magnetization measurements on the samples demonstrated that ferromagnetism is stronger in samples with higher oxygen deficiency, which could interestingly be retreated under high oxygen atmosphere and reversibly be taken back to a lower magnetic state. The vacancy-induced ferromagnetism is further confirmed by EPR measurements, which is consistent with earlier studies and, consequently, put the doped BaTiO3 in the list of true dilute magnetic oxide (DMO) systems.