Magnetostriction of Hexagonal HoMnO3 and YMnO3 Single Crystals

• Published in: Physics of the solid state Vol. 60; no. 3; pp. 520 - 526
• Main Authors: Pavlovskii, N. S., Dubrovskii, A. A., Nikitin, S. E., Semenov, S. V., Terent’ev, K. Yu, Shaikhutdinov, K. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01.03.2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Holmium; Magnetic fields; Magnetic moments; Magnetism; Magnetostriction; Manganese ions; Metal ions; Phase diagrams; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Rare earth elements; Single crystals; Solid State Physics
• ISSN: 1063-7834; 1090-6460
• DOI: 10.1134/S1063783418030228

We report on the magnetostriction of hexagonal HoMnO 3 and YMnO 3 single crystals in a wide range of applied magnetic fields (up to H = 14 T) at all possible combinations of the mutual orientations of magnetic field H and magnetostriction Δ L/L . The measured Δ L/L ( H, T ) data agree well with the magnetic phase diagram of the HoMnO 3 single crystal reported previously by other authors. It is shown that the nonmonotonic behavior of magnetostriction of the HoMnO 3 crystal is caused by the Ho 3+ ion; the magnetic moment of the Mn 3+ ion parallel to the hexagonal crystal axis. The anomalies established from the magnetostriction measurements of HoMnO 3 are consistent with the phase diagram of these compounds. For the isostructural YMnO 3 single crystal with a nonmagnetic rare-earth ion, the Δ L/L ( H, T ) dependences are described well by a conventional quadratic law in a wide temperature range (4–100 K). In addition, the magnetostriction effect is qualitatively estimated with regard to the effect of the crystal electric field on the holmium ion.