Competition of ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism in Mn-doped orthorhombic YCrO3

Abstract Mn-doped transition metal perovskites have shown versatile magnetic phenomena, and research on these materials has been revived in recent decades. Many controversies over the microscopic spin configuration remain unsolved, presumably due to the complicated spin and orbit interactions, which are strongly coupled with each other and sensitive to structural and chemical modulation. Here, the Mn-doped orthochromite YCrO3 was investigated to shed some light on this issue. The orthochromite YCr1-xMnxO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.6) was synthesized and studied by X-ray diffraction, magnetometry and neutron powder diffraction. For x = 0.2-0.5 samples, the Cr3+ (Mn3+) sublattice adopts a Γ4 (Gx,Ay,Fz) antiferromagnetic structure with a canted ferromagnetic component. Negative magnetization behavior is observed for the x = 0.1 and 0.2 samples, which is suppressed and reversed by the applied magnetic field. As the doping concentration further increases to x = 0.6, the system exhibits a distinct spin-glass behavior below a spin-freezing temperature. These phenomena are attributed to the competition between weakened antiferromagnetic Cr3+-Cr3+ interactions and enhanced ferromagnetic Cr3+-Mn3+ interactions with Mn3+-doping. This work provides deep insights into understanding the complicated magnetic phenomena in Mn-doped correlated transition metal oxides.