Negative magnetization induced by Mn doping in YCrO3

A series of ceramic samples YCr1−xMnxO3 (0.15 ⩽ x ⩽ 0.4) with orthorhombic phase were prepared by a modified Pechini method, the structure and magnetic properties were studied in details. Our experiments revealed remarkable negative magnetization induced by the competition among multiple exchange interactions. The negative magnetization is result from the antiferromagnetic coupling of weak ferromagnetic moments of Mn3+-Mn3+ and Cr3+-Cr3+ with that of Cr3+-Mn3+ interactions. And the strength of the magnetization is closely related to the temperature, magnetic field and the value of x. Below the compensation temperature, the absolute of negative magnetization firstly increases and then decreases with the increase of x, which is correlated with the weakening of Cr3+-Cr3+ interaction and the enhancement of Mn3+-Mn3+ interaction. The increase of magnetization obtained from the hysteresis loops is attributed to the ferromagnetic exchange interaction between Cr3+ and Mn3+. Moreover, the magnetic switching by only changing the magnetic field strength and both normal and inverse magnetocaloric effects were demonstrated.