Diluted magnetism in Mn-doped SrZnO2 single crystals

Abstract

We have investigated the magnetic properties of Mn- and Cu-substituted SrZnO<inf>2</inf> single crystals (SrZn<inf>1-x</inf>Mn<inf>x</inf>O<inf>2</inf> and SrZn<inf>1-x</inf>Cu<inf>x</inf>O<inf>2</inf>). We observed signatures of weak ferromagnetism as a sharp increase of magnetic susceptibility below 5 K even in the low-percentage (x = 0.01) of Mn-substituted single crystals. Magnetic susceptibility data measured parallel or perpendicular to the ab-plane yield anisotropic behavior with Curie-Weiss temperature of about -320 K and -410 K, respectively, suggesting the presence of strong antiferromagnetic couplings among Mn at high temperatures, similar to the Mn-doped ZnO and Fe-doped BaTiO<inf>3</inf>. In contrast, the SrZn<inf>0.99</inf>Cu<inf>0.01</inf>O <inf>2</inf> crystal shows paramagnetic behavior down to 2 K. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.