Structure and magnetic transitions along with magnetization switching in nanoparticles of CeCr1-xFexO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1)

Abstract

Here, we have investigated the structural, magnetic, and bipolar switching properties in CeCr1-xFexO3 (0 ≤ x ​≤ ​0.1) nanoparticles synthesized by one-step solution combustion method. Rietveld and Raman analysis demonstrate an increase in distortion of orthorhombic structure after substitution of Fe3+ ions due to the rotation/tilting of Cr–O6 octahedra. Besides the Néel transition, TN2 ~260 ​K due to antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering of Cr3+ in x ​= ​0, a new Néel transition, TN1 above TN2 in x ​> 0 is manifested attributing to the weak antiferromagnetic interaction between Cr3+ and Fe3+ moments. Below the Néel transitions, some interesting magnetic features such as compensation temperature, Tcomp and spin reorientation temperature, TSR are observed. Most importantly, a stable bipolar switching of magnetization by varying the external field is demonstrated for x ​= ​0.06 which could be exploited for its potential use in data storage and magnetic switching based nonvolatile magnetic memory devices.