A-site partially ordered La0.5Y0.5FeO3 and its multiferroic characteristics

The copresence of ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism inside the same compound is a rather scarce phenomenon, and therefore, the development of room-temperature multiferroic materials is a great challenge. In the present work, La0.5Y0.5FeO3 ceramics with La and Y ions partially ordered as a rocksalt type structure have been prepared. Such ordering leads to a polar P21nm phase, which is consistent with a particular type of hybrid improper ferroelectricity that has rarely been observed. Saturated polarization-electric field loops are determined at room-temperature with a remnant polarization of 0.11 μC/cm2, together with a room-temperature predominantly antiferromagnetic order accompanied by a weak magnetization, which renders our La0.5Y0.5FeO3 ceramics an example of a room-temperature multiferroic compound.