The dependence of magnetic properties on temperature for rare earth ErCrO3 chromites

Abstract Multiferroic ErCrO 3 was synthesized and the detailed magnetic as well as ferroelectric properties were investigated. The dc magnetization shows that ErCrO 3 undergoes a antiferromagnetic ordering at T N = 133 K due to the Cr 3+ –Cr 3+ followed by weak ferromagnetic ordering. Around T SR ≈ 22 K, ErCrO 3 exhibits a spin reorientation from Γ 4 to Γ 1 . And the stability of the ferromagnetic Γ 4 phase increases with the applied magnetic field increasing. Furthermore, at lower temperature, it shows weak antiferromagnetic ordering of Er 3+ . We also present the low temperature polarization data for ErCrO 3 and find a remarkable decreasing of polarization around T N = 133 K on increasing temperature, this effect might be due to the coupling between magnetic and ferroelectric order parameters, and the magnetic field suppresses the polarization which demonstrates convincingly the strong magnetoelectric (ME) coupling in ErCrO 3 .