57 Fe Mössbauer study of spin reorientation transition in polycrystalline NdFeO 3

Abstract

Abstract The present work reports the preparation of polycrystalline NdFeO 3 using sol-gel method and characterization using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, bulk magnetization, 57 Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy and ferroelectric measurements. XRD and Raman spectroscopy measurements confirm the phase purity of the prepared sample. The temperature dependent magnetization measurement shows the signatures of spin re-orientation transition ( T SRT ) between 66 and 158 K and magnetic field induced transition at about 2.5 T and 5 K. It is observed from the low temperature (25–300 K) 57 Fe Mossbauer measurements that the temperature variation of hyperfine parameters shows the signatures of T SRT . The observed area ratio of second and third line intensity (A 23 ) in Mossbauer sextet, across T SRT , show deviations from the value characteristic of random spin orientation in polycrystalline sample. In addition, the quadrupole shift changes sign across T SRT indicating the spin-reorientation of Fe 3+ ions. The room temperature leakage current density ( J - E ) measurements indicate that Ohmic contribution and space charge limited conduction are the dominating mechanisms at low and high applied electric fields, respectively, similar to that of other RFeO 3 (R – rare earth) based compounds. Lossy ferroelectric loops were observed at room temperature.