High temperature crystallographic and low temperature magnetic phase transitions in Fe doped Sr2RuMnO6

Abstract

Fe doped Sr2RuMnO6 (SRMO) double perovskites (Sr2RuMn1-xFexO6, x = 0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3) were prepared by solid-state route. Both x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy were performed to investigate the crystal structure of the synthesized double perovskites. Rietveld refinement of the x-ray diffraction patterns confirmed a phase transition from tetragonal to cubic space group as a function of doping concentration of iron. Raman spectroscopy at room temperature and group theory analysis revealed the phonon modes associated with the space group of the samples. The temperature dependent Raman spectroscopy showed an anharmonic behaviour of the phonon modes of the Fe doped SRMO samples. The temperature evolution of the phononic modes in the range of 300 K–620 K is predominantly influenced by the lattice degrees of freedom. The presence of several oxidation states Mn (2+, 3+ and 4+) and Fe (3+ and 4+) was confirmed by an X-ray photoemission spectroscopy analysis of the highest doped sample (x = 0.3). The magnetic properties measurements showed that the samples were completely paramagnetic at room temperature. The samples exhibit antiferromagnetism at very low temperatures and we conclude that they exhibit ferrimagnetic ground state in the mid temperature region.