Evidence of an unusual magnetic behavior at the morphotropic phase boundary of La doped BiFeO3 ceramics.

In this paper, Bi(1-x)LaxFeO3 ceramics were processed considering two compositions inside (Bi0.85La0.15FeO3) and outside (Bi0.95La0.05FeO3) the morphotropic phase boundary that separates the rhombohedral and orthorhombic phases. An unusual magnetic behavior, characterized by a double hysteresis loop, was observed at room temperature for the Bi0.85La0.15FeO3 sample. Langevin analyses revealed that this behavior is related to both the linear and non-linear components of the magnetization, indicating possible changes of the magnetic phase with doping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]