Charge compensation and magnetic properties in Sr and Cu doped La-Fe perovskites

I. Natali Sora (1) , T. Caronna (1) , F. Fontana (1) , C. de Julián Fernández (2) , A. Caneschi , M. Green (3) , P. Bonville (4) , P. Tiberto (5) , M. Affronte , F. Casoli , G. Gubbiotti , C. Marquina , F. Pratt , M. Solzi , S. Tacchi (6) , P. Vavassori (7)

1 UniBg - Università degli Studi di Bergamo = University of Bergamo
2 Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Molecolari del CNR
3 Stanford School of Medicine [Stanford]
4 LNO - Laboratoire Nano-Magnétisme et Oxydes
5 INRiM - Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica
6 Unità di Perugia- Dipartimento di Fisica
7 INFM-Dipartimento di Fisica

Orthorhombic lanthanum orthoferrites La0.8Sr0.2Fe1-yCuyO3-w (y = 0 and 0.10) have been studied using X-rays and neutron powder diffraction (XRPD and NPD), magnetization measurements and 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. Rietveld refinements on XRPD and NPD data show that they adopt an orthorhombic ABO3 perovskite symmetry with La/Sr and Fe/Cu atoms randomly distributed on crystal A and B sites, respectively. The magnetic structure at room temperature is antiferromagnetic, with the Fe/Cu magnetic moments aligned along the a axis. Magnetization curves versus temperature show that the compounds exhibit an overall antiferromagnetic and a weak ferromagnetic behaviour in the range 5-298 K. 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy measurements indicate that Fe3+ and Fe5+ ions coexist in both compounds, and the relative percentage of Fe5+ is almost the same at 77 and 170 K, rejecting a charge disproportion mechanism.

Domains: Physics [physics]

I. Natali Sora, T. Caronna, F. Fontana, C. de Julián Fernández, A. Caneschi, et al.. Charge compensation and magnetic properties in Sr and Cu doped La-Fe perovskites. EPJ Web of Conferences, 2013, 40, ⟨10.1051/epjconf/20134015005⟩. ⟨cea-01477898⟩