Structural and magnetic properties of Y1-xGdxTiO3 solid solution

The structural and magnetic properties of novel polycrystalline samples of Y1-xGdxTiO3 (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1) solid solutions are examined in this paper. The preparation of all samples was accomplished through arc melting synthesis, which involved the use of a suitable mixture of commercial Y2O3, Gd2O3, TiO2 and Ti powders under an argon atmosphere. The crystal structure of the Y1-xGdxTiO3 solid solutions was determined to be a single orthorhombic perovskite (GdFeO3 type) by X-ray diffraction. The Y1-xGdxTiO3 system exhibits a long-range magnetic ordering below temperature TC that systematically increases with the increase of Gd3+ ion concentration (from ~29 K for YTiO3 to ~35 K for GdTiO3).