Magnetic phase diagram of Co(Cr1−xAlx)2O4 (x = 0.0–1.0)

We report the role of Al substitution in the magnetic properties of spinel CoCr2O4 by means of temperature dependent dc and ac magnetization and heat capacity measurements. Various compositions (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) of polycrystalline Co(Cr1-xAlx)2O4 samples have been prepared by sol-gel processing and their crystal structure was investigated by X-ray diffraction which was found to crystallize in the normal cubic spinel structure. For x ≤ 0.1, the system exhibits multiple magnetic orderings (long range ferrimagnetic ordering TC, spin-spiral ordering TS, and lock-in transition TL), similar to that of the parent compound, CoCr2O4. However, all the compositions between x = 0.1 and 0.5 exhibit long range ferrimagnetic ordering below TC and also a short range order at low temperature. Spin-glass like ordering was noticed between x = 0.6 and 0.8 due to the diluted B-site occupancy, whereas the end compound CoAl2O4 (x = 1.0) shows antiferromagnetic behavior. On the basis of these results, we propose a magnetic phase d...