Spin-rotation phenomena and magnetic phase diagrams of hexagonal RMnO[sub 3].

Magnetic phase diagrams of the hexagonal RmnO[SUB3] (with R = Sc, Y, Ho, In, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu) compounds in the magnetic-field/temperature plane are established by linear and nonlinear magneto-optical techniques. Eight different magnetic phases of the Mn[SUP3+] sublattice and at least three different phases of the R[SUP3+] sublattices are distinguished. Phase coexistence and photoinduced modification of the magnetic structure are observed. Magnetic reorientations of the Mn[SUP3+] lattice can occur via in-phase or antiphase rotation of the triangularly frustrated spins in the adjacent crystallographic planes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]