Effect of Rare-Earth Ions on an Electric Polarization Induced by the Phase Separation Domains in RMn2O5 (R = Er, Tb)

Abstract

The effect of rare-earth ions (R = Er^{3+}, Tb^{3+}) with strong spin-orbit coupling on the dielectric properties and the electric polarization induced by local polar phase separation domains in RMn_2O_5 multiferroics has been studied. These parameters were found to be qualitatively distinguished from those studied before in GdMn_2O_5, in which Gd^{3+} ion in the ground ^8S_{7/2} state is weakly bounded with the lattice. It is shown that the properties of the polar phase separation domains, which form in the subsystem of Mn^{3+} and Mn^{4+} ions, are substantially dependent on the values of crystal fields, in which these domains exist.