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

Multiferroic ErCrO3 was synthesized and the detailed magnetic as well as ferroelectric properties were investigated. The dc magnetization shows that ErCrO3 undergoes a antiferromagnetic ordering at TN = 133 K due to the Cr3+–Cr3+ followed by weak ferromagnetic ordering. Around TSR ≈ 22 K, ErCrO3 exhibits a spin reorientation from Γ4 to Γ1. And the stability of the ferromagnetic Γ4 phase increases with the applied magnetic field increasing. Furthermore, at lower temperature, it shows weak antiferromagnetic ordering of Er3+. We also present the low temperature polarization data for ErCrO3 and find a remarkable decreasing of polarization around TN = 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 ErCrO3.