Structure and magnetic properties of Y1-xLuxFeO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) ceramics

Polycrystalline Lu-doped YFeO3 samples with perovskite structure were synthesized by solid-state reaction. Powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray analysis manifest the high quality of the samples. Room temperature 57Fe Moessbauer spectra indicate that only the Fe3+ exists in the samples, which excludes the formation of multiple valence of Fe. The large effective magnetic moments of Fe3+ obtained from the temperature dependence of magnetization data can be explained in terms of the formation of ferromagnetic clusters. Field-dependent magnetization reveals that all the samples show weak ferromagnetic property due to the small canting of the Fe3+ moments. The field-induced spin-reorientation was detected on YFeO3 and was gradually suppressed by Lu3+ doping. Polarization hysteresis loops of Y1-xLuxFeO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) were observed at room temperature. Our results suggest that the multiferroic properties may exist in the Y1-xLuxFeO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) ceramics.