Study of spin-phonon coupling and magnetic field induced spin reorientation in polycrystalline multiferroic GdFeO3

The present work reports the preparation of polycrystalline multiferroic GdFeO3 (GdFO) and characterization with x-ray diffraction (XRD), magnetization, temperature dependent Raman spectroscopy, temperature and magnetic field dependent F57e Mössbauer spectroscopy measurements. The sample is found to be phase pure from Rietveld refinement of XRD pattern. The Mössbauer spectra measured in the presence of external magnetic field show the signatures of field induced spin reorientation transition, which are corroborated by magnetization measurements. From the temperature dependent variation of internal hyperfine field, Neel transition temperature (TN,Fe) of 672.5 ± 0.2 K and critical exponent (β) of 0.333 ± 0.003 is obtained. Temperature dependent (300-760 K) Raman spectroscopy measurements show the signatures of spin-phonon coupling and local structural re-arrangement across TN,Fe.