A novel multiferroic system: Rare earth chromates

In this work, we report on our studies on the multiferroic properties of two rare earth chromates, GdCrO3 and YCrO3. Polycrystalline bulks and thin films have been fabricated using conventional solid state reaction and pulsed laser deposition. Magnetic measurements have revealed that both compounds show weak ferromagnetism below the antiferromagnetic Neel temperature, T-N, of 170 and 140 K for GdCrO3 and YCrO3, respectively. However the well-developed ferroelectric polarization electrical field loop was not successfully measured for both samples due to their low resistance. The high conductivity of the samples at room temperature is related to the thermal activation of charge carriers at around 200 K in the samples revealed by temperature dependent dielectric measurement. Capacitance measurement at 77 K within magnetic field of 3000 Oe and zero field for GdCrO3 bulk sample shows an increase in 58% in capacitance at 400 kHz by a magnetic field. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3360358]