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Anomalous magnetism in the $3 d − 4 f$ double perovskite oxide ${Nd}_{2} {FeCrO}_{6}$ with the Kramers ion ${Nd}^{3 +}$

Saurav Kumar ¹, Shantanu Majumder¹, Francesco Congiu ², Giuseppe Muscas ², H. Luetkens ³, S. D. Kaushik ⁴, Shishir K. Pandey ⁵, Stephen L. Lee⁶, Uday Deshpande⁷ et al.

Tapati Sarkar ^8,* and Soumya Jyoti Ray ^1,†

¹Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Bihta 801106, India
²Department of Physics, University of Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria di Monserrato, S. P. 8 Km 0.700, I-09042 Monserrato, CA, Italy
³Laboratory for Muon Spin Spectroscopy, Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232, Villigen PSI, Switzerland
⁴UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research Mumbai Centre, BARC Campus, Trombay, Mumbai 400085, India
⁵Department of General Sciences (Physics), Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Dubai Campus, Dubai International Academic City, Dubai 345055 United Arab Emirates
⁶School of Physics and Astronomy, SUPA, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews KY16 9SS, United Kingdom
⁷UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, Indore Centre, University Campus, Khandwa road, Indore 452001, India
⁸Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Box 35, Uppsala University, SE-751 03 Uppsala, Sweden

^*Contact author: tapati.sarkar@angstrom.uu.se
^†Contact author: ray@iitp.ac.in; ray.sjr@gmail.com

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Phys. Rev. B 112, 054429 – Published 12 August, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/c87f-xf83

Abstract

The complex magnetic behavior of double-perovskite oxides ( $A_{2} {BB}^{'} O_{6}$ ) with rare-earth (RE) element A and transition metal (TM) elements B- $B^{'}$ is determined by the interactions between intra- and interatomic magnetic moments. The peculiar magnetism in these systems stems from the interplay between spin, orbit, and lattice degrees of freedom. This study comprehensively investigates the role of spin-orbit entangled $J_{eff} = 1 / 2$ moments of the Kramers ion ${Nd}^{3 +}$ on the magnetic ground state of a B-site ordered ferrimagnetic (FiM) double-perovskite oxide, ${Nd}_{2} {FeCrO}_{6}$ . Furthermore, employing microscopic techniques like $μ SR$ (muon spin rotation and relaxation) and neutron diffraction, we gained insight into the origin of low-temperature anomalies in the magnetic ground state of the system. The DC magnetization data encompass the first transition at critical temperature $T_{N} = 250$ K, followed by a negative magnetization below 15 K. The temperature-dependent neutron diffraction shows a commensurate magnetic ordering below 250 K, forming a ferrimagnetic ground state, supported by theoretical calculations. In addition, a sharp drop in initial muon asymmetry confirms the transition from a disordered state to a long-range-ordered state at 250 K. Interestingly, the thermal evolution of the dynamic muon spin-relaxation rate ( $λ_{L}$ ) reveals a transition at two temperatures, at 250 K and $\approx 11$ K, suggesting a low- $T$ ordering at the A site. The heat-capacity data show that ${Nd}^{3 +}$ hosts the ground-state doublet (pseudospin-1/2) at low temperatures. Our analysis of neutron diffraction, heat capacity, and $μ SR$ results suggests that the correlation between the ${Nd}^{3 +}$ doublet and the complex interaction between Nd-TM moments gives rise to the observed low-temperature anomaly.

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Corrections

23 January, 2026

Correction: A missing statement has been added to the Acknowledgment section.

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References (57)

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Phys. Rev. B 112, 054429– Published 12 August, 2025

Vol. 112, Iss. 5 — 1 August 2025

Received 21 March 2025
Revised 15 June 2025
Accepted 17 June 2025
Corrected 23 January 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/c87f-xf83

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Anomalous magnetism in the $3 d − 4 f$ double perovskite oxide ${Nd}_{2} {FeCrO}_{6}$ with the Kramers ion ${Nd}^{3 +}$

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Anomalous magnetism in the 3d−4f double perovskite oxide Nd2FeCrO6 with the Kramers ion Nd3+

Abstract

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Corrections

Article Text

Supplemental Material

References (57)

Anomalous magnetism in the $3 d − 4 f$ double perovskite oxide ${Nd}_{2} {FeCrO}_{6}$ with the Kramers ion ${Nd}^{3 +}$