Spin switching in single crystal PrFeO3 and spin configuration diagram of rare earth orthoferrites

Abstract

We report the low field spin switching and spin reorientation transition in rare earth orthoferrite PrFeO3 single crystal grown by optical floating zone method. Applied magnetic fields can regulate the spin switching in a quite wide range of temperatures. The effective magnetic moments of Fe3+ and Pr3+ sublattices undergo parallel to antiparallel configurations in field-cooled-cooling processes, which produce an abrupt drop in magnetization at low temperatures. The reverse spin switching show a magnetization recovering jump at a rather higher temperature in the field-cooled-warming regime, even above 300 K under very low fields. These intriguing magnetic phase transitions are due to the intrinsic 3d-4f electron interactions between Fe3+ and R3+ sublattices, which dominate the interesting magnetic behaviors in RFeO3. In particular, PrFeO3 shows a great sensitivity to weak field even at room temperature, which makes it a controllable candidate for potential application in spintronic devices by using very low field. Finally, we summarize the spin configuration diagram of the RFeO3 family.