Magnetic structure and physical properties of the multiferroic compound PrMn2O5

RMn2O5 (R=lanthanide, Bi, Y) multiferroic compounds are intensively studied for their potential application in the spintronic field. In these systems, the key issue is to understand the origin of the strong coupling between the ferroelectric and magnetic orders and to investigate the influence of the nature of the R ions in this coupling. While the phase diagram of RMn2O5 compounds with small R size is well established, this of large R size compounds is missing due to the lack of samples originating with difficulties of synthesis. We present in this paper the first investigation of the thermodynamic, structural and magnetic properties of high quality polycrystalline PrMn2O5 samples. Our work shows that PrMn2O5 presents two magnetic transitions corresponding to commensurate magnetic orderings. We also evidence a weak lattice effect coupled to the magnetic order. Our results point out that the physical properties of PrMn2O5 differ from those of the parent compounds with magnetic R ions. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.