Nuclear structure and magnetic properties of perovskite compounds La1−xNdxFe0.5Cr0.5O3 (x = 0.1, 0.15 and 0.2)

Perovskite oxides with the composition La1−xNdxFe0.5Cr0.5O3 (x = 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20) have been studied. The samples have been prepared using the standard solid-state reaction method in air. The X-ray and neutron diffractograms indicates that the samples crystallize in the orthorhombic perovskite structure with space group Pnma (No. 62). The Nd-substitution causes minor changes in the cell parameters and bond lengths but the nuclear structure remains orthorhombic in the whole range of substitutions and in the temperature range of 10–700 K. The magnetic structure of the samples at room temperature and below is G-type antiferromagnetic with an average magnetic moment of the Fe/Cr ions of 3.29(3) μB/atom at 10 K independent of the Nd content. At room temperature the average magnetic moment of the Fe/Cr ions reduces to 1.23 μB/atom. At temperatures below 250 K a weak but increasing uncompensated spontaneous magnetic moment develops that reaches a magnitude of about 0.5 emu/g (or 0.02 μB per Fe/Cr site) at 10 K. This moment saturates rather rapidly in the magnetization versus magnetic field curve and is at higher field superposed on the response of the antiferromagnetic spin system.