Magnetic and multiferroic properties of dilute Fe-doped BaTiO3 crystals

M Staruch,M G Cain,P Thompson,P Finkel,C A Lucas,H Elbidweihy

doi:10.1063/5.0002863

Abstract

Combining and coupling both magnetic and electric properties in one single phase multiferroic material has attracted high interest recently to enable a broad range of novel devices and applications. To evaluate one potential route toward new multiferroics, we have studied 0.5% Fe-doped BaTiO3 single crystals and measured the ferroelectric, magnetic, and multiferroic properties. X-ray absorption spectroscopy shows the presence of Fe3+, and magnetic measurements confirmed that this has a significant impact on the magnetic properties. Doping of iron introduces paramagnetism from lone iron atoms as well as what appears to be a weak ferromagnetism. Multiferroicity and magnetoelectric (ME) coupling were observed in the polarization-electric field hysteresis loops with an applied magnetic field, yet there was no direct evidence that ME coupling persists when the sample was in the defect dipole-aligned state.

Highlights

BaTiO3 is well known as one of the prototypical examples of materials demonstrating ferroelectricity that has a high dielectric constant, low loss tangent, and high piezoelectric coefficient (d33 ∼ 420 pC/N) at room temperature
The improvement in strain is thought to be due to the alignment of defects (i.e., O2− vacancies) with the crystallographic symmetry in the ferroelectric state when the material is aged through application of thermal treatments. This results in the ferroelectric domains favoring alignment with the defect dipoles that provides a restoring force, where recovery of the original ferroelectric domain pattern after non-180○ switching results allows for the high strains generated by this reversible domain motion
After aging, pinched electric hysteresis loops were observed as well as large strains up to 0.8%

Summary

Introduction

BaTiO3 is well known as one of the prototypical examples of materials demonstrating ferroelectricity that has a high dielectric constant, low loss tangent, and high piezoelectric coefficient (d33 ∼ 420 pC/N) at room temperature.

Results

Conclusion