Magnetic and multiferroic properties of dilute Fe-doped BaTiO3 crystals

Combining and coupling both magnetic and electric properties in one single phase multiferroic material has attracted high interest recently to enable a broad range of novel devices and applications. To evaluate one potential route toward new multiferroics, we have studied 0.5% Fe-doped BaTiO3 single crystals and measured the ferroelectric, magnetic, and multiferroic properties. X-ray absorption spectroscopy shows the presence of Fe3+, and magnetic measurements confirmed that this has a significant impact on the magnetic properties. Doping of iron introduces paramagnetism from lone iron atoms as well as what appears to be a weak ferromagnetism. Multiferroicity and magnetoelectric (ME) coupling were observed in the polarization-electric field hysteresis loops with an applied magnetic field, yet there was no direct evidence that ME coupling persists when the sample was in the defect dipole-aligned state.