Magnetic hysteresis mechanism in Lu0.9Sr0.1Cr0.5Fe0.5O3 studied by Monte Carlo simulations

In this work we report magnetic properties of the orthorhombic perovskite Lu 0.9 Sr 0.1 Cr 0.5 Fe 0.5 O 3 synthesized by a wet chemical method. As in LuCr 0.5 Fe 0.5 O 3 the compound with Sr shows the magnetization reversal phenomenon, but the magnetic order and the compensation temperature occur at higher temperatures. Interestingly, in M vs H curves a hysteresis loop is observed when Cr 4+ and Cr 3+ ions coexist as a consequence of the aliovalent substitution of Lu 3+ by Sr 2+ in the B sites of the perovskite. To explain this behavior, we performed numerical simulations with a magnetic model for Lu 1− x Sr x Cr 0.5 Fe 0.5 O 3 perovskites with x = 0 and x = 0.1. We found that the ferromagnetic coupling of Fe 3+ and Cr 4+ through superexchange interactions (according the empiric Goodenough–Kanamori–Anderson rules) increases the magnetization at high fields and that the presence of ferromagnetic clusters explains the hysteretic behavior found in simulations.