Coexistence of ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity in Mn-doped chromites YCr1-xMnxO3 single crystals

Abstract The structural, magnetic and ferroelectric properties of the Mn-doped chromites YCr 1- x Mn x O 3 (YCMO) (0.39 ≤  x  ≤ 0.73) single crystals have been studied. Powder X-ray diffraction results showed an orthorhombic structure for all the samples. Detailed magnetic studies demonstrated strong ferromagnetic (FM) behavior at low temperatures in all the YCMO crystals, which is found to be due to the FM Cr 3+ –O 2- –Mn 3+ magnetic interaction. The multiferroic behavior with magnetoelectric coupling was also observed in YCMO. The electric polarization in YCMO can be attributed to the Jahn-Teller distortion instead of magnetic origin.