Magnetic and thermal properties of perovskite YFeO3 single crystals

In this work, we reported the magnetic and thermal properties of perovskite YFeO3 crystal grown by the floating zone method. YFeO3 crystal is a canted antiferromagnet with a weak ferromagnetic behavior. The magnetization varied nonlinearly from 0.204 emu/g to 0.173 emu/g at the temperature range of 2–300 K. Its Néel temperature is around 644.5 K. The specific heat is about 0.56 J/(g K) at room temperature and reaches the maximum value of 0.77 J/(g K) at 644.5 K where the antiferromagnetic–paramagnetic transition occurs. Both the lattice and magnetic contributions to the heat capacity have been calculated. Thermal diffusivity and the thermal conductivity are as large as 3.53 mm2/s and 11.27 W/(m K) at 298 K, respectively. Both of them show anomalies around the magnetic phase transition point. The average thermal expansion coefficients are −1.72 × 10−6 K−1 and 2.28 × 10−6 K−1 before and after Néel temperature, respectively. The high Néel temperature, high thermal conductivity and small expansion coefficient indicate that YFeO3 crystal is a promising candidate for laser-induced or optical device applications in broad temperature range and high power system.