The crystal and magnetic structure of the cation-disordered perovskites LaCo0.5Mn0.5O3 and YCo0.5Mn0.5O3

The crystal and magnetic structures of LaCoFormula: see textMnFormula: see textO 3 and YCoFormula: see textMnFormula: see textO 3 perovskites were studied using neutron and X-ray powder diffraction techniques in the temperature range of 15–300Formula: see textK. The obtained structural data indicate a complete disorder of cobalt and manganese cations, resulting in an orthorhombic structure with the Pnma space group in both compounds. The temperature evolution of unit cell parameters, characteristic bond lengths and valence angles was studied for both compounds. Anomalies in the temperature behavior of the lattice parameters and oxygen octahedra distortions were observed. These anomalies are attributed to the formation of a ferromagnetic phase at Formula: see text(1) K for YCoFormula: see textMnFormula: see textO 3 and at Formula: see text(1)Formula: see textK for LaCoFormula: see textMnFormula: see textO 3 .