Influence of the orthorhombic phase content on the dielectric and magnetic properties of YMnO3

Abstract

Here, we report on the dielectric and magnetic properties of polycrystalline samples of YMnO3 where the ratio between both orthorhombic (o-YMO) and hexagonal (h-YMO) phases has been controlled by means of appropriate sintering treatments. Interestingly, we observe that the dielectric behavior is dominated by the presence of the metastable o-YMO phase, even though its amount remains as a minority phase. However it also influences the magnetic behavior for sintering temperatures below 1000 °C, and in addition, a weak ferromagnetic contribution is always detected in our polycrystalline samples regardless of the o-YMO content.