Influence of manganese doping in multiferroic bismuth ferrite thin films

We have examined the influence of manganese doping to the magnetic properties of manganese-doped bismuth ferrite [BiFe1-xMnxO3 (x = 0, 0.05, and 0.2)] thin films grown epitaxially on (LaAlO3)(0.3)(Sr,AlTaO6)(0.7) substrates by pulsed laser deposition technique. Manganese doping gave rise to a gradual increase of spontaneous magnetization along with the clarity of magnetic hysteresis. This enhanced magnetization can be understood by the modification of the long-range spiral G-type antiferromagnetic ordering to a collinear G-type anti ferromagnetic ordering, in which the canted component of the antiferromagnetically ordered spins becomes measurable for the latter magnetic structure. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.