Reentrant spin glass behavior in the Ga(0.67–0.67x)CoxCr2S4 (x = 0.5–0.8) spinel solid solutions
摘要
Spinel-structured Ga(0.67–0.67x)CoxCr2S4 (x = 0.5–0.8) solid solutions were synthesized via the solid-state reaction method and characterized to investigate the impact of Co doping on the structural and magnetic properties of the parent compound Ga0.67Cr2S4. X-ray powder diffraction analysis confirmed the presence of a single cubic phase with cell parameters increasing linearly with the doping level in accordance to the Vegard rule. Magnetic studies revealed ferrimagnetic transitions at Curie temperatures (TC) ranging from 204 to 218 K, increasing with cobalt content. This was accompanied by a shift from hard to semi-hard magnetic behavior, with coercivity (HC) decreasing from 2.201 Oe to 588 Oe and saturation magnetization (MS) rising from 17.96 emu/g to 40.69 emu/g. The compositions with x = 0.6–0.8 notably exhibited an additional low-temperature transition to a reentrant spin glass state at TRSG ≈ 20–26 K, as evidenced by frequency-dependent AC susceptibility. The combination of tunable magnetic ordering and semiconducting properties makes these materials promising candidates for spintronic applications.