Dielectric, ferroelectric, magnetic and electrical properties of Sm-doped GaFeO3

The effect of Sm doping on structural, dielectric, multiferroic and electrical properties of GaFeO 3 with composition GaFe 1-x Sm x O 3 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15) is studied. Rietveld refinement of the XRD data reveals the formation of single-phase orthorhombic structure. It is observed that the unit cell volume increases with rise in Sm content. FESEM study reveals that the irregular-shaped grains are uniformly distributed throughout the surface. From dielectric plot, a significant variation in ε r and tanδ with Sm content is observed. Further, conjugate existence of both ferroelectric and magnetic ordering is confirmed by polarisation and magnetization hysteresis loop measurement. The remanent polarisation (P r ) is decreased with Sm content due to the defects related to fluctuations in the valance of Fe in the studied samples. Also, the remanent magnetization (M r ) is found to fall with rise in Sm content due to the lower magnetic moment (μ) of Sm 3+ . Impedance analysis shows the existence of two types of relaxation in studied materials.