High temperature negative magnetization, spin reorientation and their suppression with magnetic field in ErFe0.55Mn0.45O3 single crystal

ErFe0.55Mn0.45O3 single crystal shows canted antiferromagnetic ordering below 365 K with weak ferro-magnetic moment along c axis. On cooling, the magnetic moment is completely suppressed at a certain temperature due to Er and Fe/Mn sublattice compensation, below which negative magnetization is observed. The compensation and negative magnetization temperatures are much higher than those in other orthoferrite systems. There is a spin reorientation transition from Gamma(4)(G(x), A(y), F-z) to Gamma(1)(A(x), G(y), C-z) structure at 255 K along c axis which is not seen along a and b axes. The spin reorientation is tunable with applied magnetic field and is completely suppressed at sufficiently high magnetic field. The behavior is explained by spin configuration and net magnetization orientation of individual Er and Fe/Mn sublattices. The proposed model is further validated by measurements using `training' protocol. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved