Magnetic Properties of a Gadolinium Orthoferrite, GdFeO3, Crystal

Abstract

Gadolinium orthoferrite, GdFeO₃, in single‐crystal form exhibits magnetization between temperatures of 78 and 295°K which consists of a field independent part σ₀ and a field dependent part χH for fields above 6000 oersteds. The parasitic ferromagnetization σ₀ amounts to about 1% of the σ(Fe) available and may be attributed to imperfectly compensated antiferromagnetism of the Fe³⁺ ion sublattice. The susceptibility χ appears to be made up of a paramagnetic contribution from the Gd³⁺ ion sublattice and a contribution from the antiferromagnetic Fe³⁺ ion sublattice influenced by interaction between the two sublattices. The anisotropy of σ₀ and χ changes with temperature. The maximum σ₀ and minimum χ do not coincide as they would if both took the direction of the antiferromagnetic axis of the Fe³⁺ ion sublattice.