Peculiarities in the magnetic, magnetoelectric, and magnetoelastic properties of SmFe3(BO3)4 multiferroic

Results of a complex investigation of the magnetic, magnetoelectric, and magnetoelastic properties of a SmFe3(BO3)4 single crystal are presented. Samarium iron borate is similar to another easy-plane iron borate, NdFe3(BO3)4, in that it possesses a large value of the magnetic-field-induced polarization (about 500 μC/m2), the sign of which changes when the field direction is changed between axes a and b of the crystal. However, the temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility and the field dependence of polarization and magnetostriction of the two compounds are significantly different, which is explained by the weak effect of external magnetic field on the ground-state multiplet of samarium ion, which is characterized by an extremely small value of its g-factor.