Negative magnetization and magnetic switching effect in R 2 FeCrO 6 (R = La, Nd) perovskites

Significant negative magnetization was observed in both samples of La 2 FeCrO 6 (LFCO) and Nd 2 FeCrO 6 (NFCO) synthesized by the sol–gel method. The mechanism of negative magnetization differs in the two samples by measuring the temperature-dependent magnetization of the samples. Both La 2 FeCrO 6 and Nd 2 FeCrO 6 exist tilted antiferromagnetic Fe/Cr components that exhibit weak ferromagnetism due to Dzyaloshinsky–Moriya(DM) interactions; however, the interactions between Fe 3+ –O 2− –Fe 3+ /Cr 3+ –O 2− –Cr 3+ exhibit weak ferromagnetism in the opposite direction to Fe 3+ –O 2− –Cr 3+ . La 2 FeCrO 6 experiences negative magnetization as a result of the competition between DM interactions and single-ion magnetic anisotropy. The inverse magnetic moment produced by the Nd 3+ ions in the negative internal field has a different temperature dependence than the Fe/Cr moments with weak ferromagnetism, triggering the negative magnetization in Nd 2 FeCrO 6 . The magnetization switching effect of two samples at low temperatures without changing the direction of the applied magnetic field is demonstrated in this work.