Magnetic and Structural Characterization of Cr-doped CeFeO₃

The rare earth orthoferrites – RFeO₃ where R is a rare earth element – have been extensively studied for their multiferroic order and magnetic behaviors. It has been established for decades that these systems exhibit a spin reorientation phenomenon, whereby the ordered spin systems rotate to a new easy axis of magnetization at some transition temperature. In particular, CeFeO₃ exhibits a spin reorientation transition near 230 K that reduces the strength of the magnetization as the material is cooled. We investigate the effects of Cr doping in polycrystalline samples of CeFeO₃ synthesized via solid state reaction. X-ray diffraction measurements indicate that our samples are single phase, and our results reveal that the Cr interactions contribute an additional spin reorientation near 50 K not dissimilar to the behavior of CeCrO₃.