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Temperature dependence of the antiferromagnetic order in ${CeCrO}_{3}$

Fereidoon S. Razavi ^1,*, Pascal Puphal ^2,†, Clemens Ritter ^3,‡, and Reinhard K. Kremer ^2,§

¹Department of Physics, Brock University, St Catharines, Ontario, Canada L2S 3A1
²Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstrasse 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
³Institut Laue Langevin, 38042 Grenoble, France

^*Contact author: frazavi@brocku.ca
^†Contact author: P.Puphal@fkf.mpg.de
^‡Contact author: ritter@ill.fr
^§Contact author: R.Kremer@fkf.mpg.de

Phys. Rev. B 112, 224438 – Published 23 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/mgs3-xj3v

Abstract

Among the orthochromites comprising a magnetic rare-earth constituent, ${CeCrO}_{3}$ exhibits the highest Néel temperature of $\sim 260 K$ . Using high-resolution neutron powder diffraction, we redetermined the low-temperature antiferromagnetic Cr and Ce magnetic moment configuration in ${CeCrO}_{3}$ . The Cr moments order with a weakly canted $G$ -type antiferromagnetic structure ( $Γ_{2}$ ) where the moments essentially align along the $b$ axis ( $P n m a$ setting of the space group No. 62). Very weak Ce magnetic coherent scattering appears below $\sim 22 K$ due to a $C_{x}$ -type ordering of the Ce moments ( $μ_{Ce} \approx 0.06 μ_{B}$ ). From the temperature dependence of the lattice parameters, we analyze the volume magnetoelastic effects which cause a contraction of the cell volume on ordering of the Cr moments. Below $\sim 150 K$ a subtle but continuous adjustment of the $a$ and $c$ lattice parameters takes place which is attributed to a spin reorientation of the Cr magnetic moments. The temperature dependence of the Cr magnetic order parameter indicates a gap in the magnon spectrum. We reanalyze the specific heat capacity of ${CeCrO}_{3}$ which at low temperatures exhibits additional contributions due to thermal excitation within the crystal-field split levels of the ${Ce}^{3 +} {}^{2}F_{5 / 2}$ Hund's rule ground state. A model calculation of the magnetization including magnetic polarization of the Ce moments is consistent with a spin reorientation of the Cr magnetic moments.

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Phys. Rev. B 112, 224438– Published 23 December, 2025

Vol. 112, Iss. 22 — 1 December 2025

Received 7 August 2025
Accepted 3 December 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/mgs3-xj3v

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Open access publication funded by Max Planck Society.

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Temperature dependence of the antiferromagnetic order in ${CeCrO}_{3}$

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Temperature dependence of the antiferromagnetic order in CeCrO3

Abstract

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

Supplemental Material

References (49)

Temperature dependence of the antiferromagnetic order in ${CeCrO}_{3}$