Structural, magnetic, and magnetocaloric properties of the multiferroic host double perovskite compound Pr2FeCrO6

Abstract

We have investigated the crystal structure and the nature of the magnetic ground state of the polycrystalline compound Pr₂FeCrO₆ (PFCO) through X-ray diffraction (XRD), magnetization, and magnetocaloric effect studies. Analysis of the XRD pattern reveals that the PFCO compound exhibits a B-site disordered orthorhombic crystal structure. The random distribution of Fe³⁺ and Cr³⁺ magnetic sublattices at the B-sites of the crystallographic unit cell helps to generate several fascinating magnetic properties. The compound exhibits three distinct anomalies in both the temperature dependence of the magnetization and the magnetic entropy change (−ΔS) curves, namely, (i) a G-type canted antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering of the transition metal ions (T_N1), (ii) a progressive spin reorientation (SR) transition (T_SR), and (iii) an AFM ordering of Pr³⁺ sublattices at very low temperature (T_N2). Surprisingly, a novel “diamagnetism-like” behavior appears in the low-temperature region for low applied field values. Moreover, we have also constructed the thermal evolution of the magnetic crystal structures in different transition regions with the help of irreducible representations of the crystal symmetry. Overall, our study of B-site disordered PFCO may help to encourage basic fundamental and applied research on disordered rare-earth and transition metal-based perovskite systems due to their interesting magnetic properties over a broad temperature range.