Dilution of helical antiferromagnetic matrix of CaMn7O12 under nonmagnetic Ga+3 doping

The work reports dilution studies on antiferromagnetic CaMn ₇O ₁₂. Introduction of nonmagnetic ion in an antiferromagnetic matrix changes the magnetic properties in an interesting way. The study becomes significant due to the fact that remarkable increase in magnetization is observed as a result of substitution of a few of the magnetic Mn ions with the nonmagnetic Ga ion. For 5% doping of Ga, the magnetization value becomes nearly thrice of the un-doped CaMn ₇O ₁₂. A sequential decrease in antiferromagnetic ordering transition temperature is also observed with increasing Ga percentage in the parent compound. The solid solubility limit of Ga in the matrix is found to be nearly 5%, above which it start showing impurity peaks. Experimental results are well complemented with the Density functional theory (DFT) based calculations. Theoretical calculations are carried out on (CaMn ₇O ₁₂) ₃ unit cell with one Ga atom doped at different Mn sites resulting around 5% doping concentration. Besides identifying the most favourable doping site for Ga, results indicate a reduction of bulk band gap and significant increase in magnetization, both of which are in agreement with the experimental results.