Disappearance of spiral spin order and field induced spin reorientation transition in Fe[formula omitted]Cr[formula omitted]VO[formula omitted] (0.1[formula omitted][formula omitted][formula omitted]0.3) multiferroic: 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopic studies

Abstract

Here we report a progressive suppression of spiral spin order and evidence for disappearance of spin reorientation transition (SRT) in Fe1−xCrxVO4 (0.1 ≤x≤ 0.3) studied by low temperature and high magnetic field (LTHM) Mössbauer spectroscopy (MS). Variation in the area ratio of lines 2 and 3 (A23) with external magnetic field confirms the presence of antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering for all the compositions at the lowest temperatures (5 K). Field induced spin reorientation transition is being observed in both triclinic (x = 0.10) and mixed phase (x = 0.175) systems, evidenced by the change in the sign of quadrupole shift (QS) value at low temperatures, where as the SRT is absent in the monoclinic phase (x = 0.20 and 0.30). MS line width (Γ) values indicate the presence of spiral spin order in T-phase, partial suppression in mixed phase (T + M) and finally complete suppression for the M-phases.