Doping effect on structural, morphological and magnetic properties of YbMnO₃ compound with non-magnetic Lutetium ion

The present study presents an analysis of the structural, morphological and magnetic properties of multiferroic YbMnO3 (YBO) due to Lu doping. YbMnO3 (YBO) and Yb0.85Lu0.15MnO3 (YBLu) were prepared using a conventional solid state reaction method. The investigation employed techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field Effect Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM), Raman spectroscopy and magnetic measurements. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of both samples confirmed the growth of these samples in a polycrystalline single hexagonal phase having space group P6(3)cm with no detectable impurities. The evaluation of crystalline parameters, such as lattice parameters, cell volume, specific bond lengths etc. has been carried out. The Lu-doped sample shows a minor reduction in cell parameters and cell volume which can be attributed to the smaller ionic radius of Lu3+. Lu doping in YBO results in slight shift in Raman Lines towards slightly frequencies which is the result of a small change in the average bond length. The effective magnetic moment of YBLu is found to decrease similar to 6 % and the antiferromagnetic ordering temperature T-N nearly remains the same because Lu3+ has zero magnetic moment. Both samples show ferri/ferromagnetic behaviour below 5 K due to the ordering of the Yb3+ lattice.