Influence of the Cr5+ ion on the magnetic properties of YbCrO4 oxide

The magnetic properties of the YbCrO4 oxide have been studied by both bulk magnetic measurements and 170Yb Mossbauer spectroscopy. Ferrimagnetic ordering is shown to be present below 25 K, driven by the exchange within the chromium sublattice. In the saturation state, the magnetic moment is 0.55 mB for Yb3+, and presumably 1 mB for Cr5+, the two sublattices being antiferromagnetically coupled. The anisotropic Yb–Cr exchange polarises the Yb3+ sublattice below 25 K, so as to force the Yb magnetic moments to lie in the hard magnetic a–b plane.