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It is shown that Ca2+ doping at Bi-site results in the release of weak ferromagnetism in BiFeO3. Structural transformation from rhombohedral to triclinic is observed with 10% Ca doping. Raman measurements show the presence of oxygen vacancies with Ca doping and no evidence of either intermediate valence or the tetravalence of iron is observed from Mössbauer measurements. No significant change in Neel temperature is observed with Ca doping. The observed weak ferromagnetism and ferroelectric nature at room temperature indicates the multiferroic nature of Bi1−xCaxFeO3 (x=5% and 10%) samples.

Spin valves have revolutionized the field of magnetic recording and memory devices. Spin valves are generally realized in thin film heterostructures, where two ferromagnetic (FM) layers are separated by a nonmagnetic conducting layer. Here, we demonstrate spin-valve-like magnetoresistance at room temperature in a bulk ferrimagnetic material that exhibits a magnetic shape memory effect. The origin of this unexpected behavior in Mn(2)NiGa has been investigated by neutron diffraction, magnetization, and ab initio theoretical calculations. The refinement of the neutron diffraction pattern shows the presence of antisite disorder where about 13% of the Ga sites are occupied by Mn atoms. On the basis of the magnetic structure obtained from neutron diffraction and theoretical calculations, we establish that these antisite defects cause the formation of FM nanoclusters with parallel alignment of Mn spin moments in a Mn(2)NiGa bulk lattice that has antiparallel Mn spin moments. The direction of the Mn moments in the soft FM cluster reverses with the external magnetic field. This causes a rotation or tilt in the antiparallel Mn moments at the cluster-lattice interface resulting in the observed asymmetry in magnetoresistance.

In this work a Mn doped magnetoelectric BiFeO 3 system is studied. Xray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive xray analysis (EDX), Mössbauer spectroscopy at room and high temperatures, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), high temperature magnetization, dielectric constant measurements and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) are used to characterize the samples. The XRD result shows BiFeO 3 as a major phase along with about 1-2% impurity phase. EDX shows the equi-atomic ratio of Bi and Fe site cations. Using DSC it is observed that the Néel temperature decreases with Mn doping. Using Mössbauer and XPS it is observed that Fe exists in the +3 oxidation state. The samples have an antiferromagnetic nature with Mn doping.