The effects of substituting nonmagnetic Mg 2+ and Zn 2+ ions for the Mn 2+ (S = 5/2) ions on the structural, magnetic and dielectric properties of the multiferroic frustrated antiferromagnet MnWO 4 were investigated. Polycrystalline samples of Mn 1-x Mg x WO 4 and Mn 1-x Zn x WO 4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.3) solid solutions were prepared by a solid-state route and characterized via X-ray and neutron diffraction, magnetization, and dielectric permittivity measurements. Mg and Zn substitutions give rise to very similar effects. The Néel temperature T N , the AF3-to-AF2 magnetic phase transition temperature T 2 , and the critical ferroelectric temperature T c = T 2 of MnWO 4 are reduced upon the nonmagnetic doping.At the lowest temperature (T = 1.5 K), the incommensurate magnetic structure for x(Mg) = 0.15 and x(Zn) = 0.15 corresponds to either a sinusoidal spin arrangement or an elliptical spin-spiral phase similar to the polar AF2 structure observed in MnWO 4 . These findings were discussed by considering the effects of the Mg and Zn substitutions on the crystal lattice and on the spin exchange network of MnWO 4 .
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