Enhanced magnetism and suppressed magnetoelastic coupling induced by electron doping in Ca1 -xYxMnReO6

Abstract

The Ca₂MnReO₆double perovskite is a spin-orbit-assisted Mott insulator with exotic magnetic properties, including a largely non-collinear Mn²⁺spin arrangement and nearly orthogonal coupling between such spins and the much smaller Re 5dmagnetic moments. Here, the electron-doped compound Ca_1-xY_xMnReO₆(x= 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3) is reported and a detailed investigation is conducted forx= 0.3. Neutron and x-ray powder diffraction confirm that nearly full chemical order is maintained at the Mn and Re sites under the Y substitution at the Ca site. X-ray absorption measurements and an analysis of the Mn-O/Re-O bond distances show that the Mn oxidation state remains stable at +2 whereas Re is reduced upon doping. The electron doping increases the magnetic ordering temperature fromT_c= 121 to 150 K and also enhances significantly the ferromagnetic component of the Mn spins at the expense of the antiferromagnetic component at the base temperature (T= 3 K). The lattice parameter anomalies atT_cobserved in the parent compound are suppressed by the electron doping. The possible reasons for the enhanced magnetism and the suppressed magnetoelastic coupling in Ca_1.7Y_0.3MnReO₆are discussed.

Keywords: crystal structure; magnetically ordered materials; neutron diffraction; solid state reaction; spin–orbit effects.