Mn magnetic ordering in fully oxygenated Lu _1-xSc _xMnO ₃ (x=0, 0.5, and 1)

The magnetic properties of fully oxygenated hexagonal Lu1-x Scx MnO3 (x=0, 0.5, and 1) have been investigated by means of neutron diffraction and ac magnetization measurements. All three compounds crystallized into a hexagonal symmetry of space-group P 63 cm. No structural changes were observed between 10 and 300 K. Anomaly of antiferromagnetic characters was observed at ~90, 95, and 126 K for the x=0, 0.5, and 1 compounds, respectively, in the temperature dependence of the ac magnetic susceptibility, signaling the ordering of the Mn spins. Both the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic components, associated with the Mn spins, were revealed in the low-temperature neutron magnetic diffraction patterns. The observed magnetic intensities are consistent with a magnetic structure that can be described by using the Kovalev Γ5 irreducible representation, where the Mn moments lie in the basal MnO2 planes and the couplings between the adjacent MnO2 planes are ferromagnetic, with a saturated moment of 〈 μz 〉 =3.22 (3) μB and 3.15 (3) μB for the x=0 and 0.5 compounds, respectively.