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We report the magnetic susceptibility, specific heat and dielectric constant for high-purity polycrystalline samples of three hexagonal manganites: YMnO3, LuMnO3 and ScMnO3. These materials can exhibit a ferroelectric transition at very high temperatures (TFE>700 K). At lower temperatures there is magnetic ordering of the frustrated Mn3+ spins (S = 2) on a triangular Mn lattice (YMnO3: TN = 71 K; LuMnO3: TN = 90 K and ScMnO3: TN = 130 K). The transition is characterized by a sharp kink in the magnetic susceptibility at TN below which it continues to increase due to the frustration on the triangular lattice. The specific heat shows one clear continuous phase transition at TN, which is independent of external magnetic field up to 9 T with an entropy content as expected for Mn3+ ions. The temperature-dependent dielectric constant displays a distinct anomaly at TN.

Mn-doped GaAs is a ferromagnetic semiconductor, widely studied because of its possible application for spin-sensitive 'spintronics' devices. The material also attracts great interest in fundamental research regarding its evolution from a paramagnetic insulator to a ferromagnetic metal. The high sensitivity of its physical properties to preparation conditions and heat treatments and the strong doping and temperature dependencies of the magnetic anisotropy have generated a view in the research community that ferromagnetism in (Ga, Mn)As may be associated with unavoidable and intrinsic strong spatial inhomogeneity. Muon spin relaxation (muSR) probes magnetism, yielding unique information about the volume fraction of regions having static magnetic order, as well as the size and distribution of the ordered moments. By combining low-energy muSR, conductivity and a.c. and d.c. magnetization results obtained on high-quality thin-film specimens, we demonstrate here that (Ga, Mn)As shows a sharp onset of ferromagnetic order, developing homogeneously in the full volume fraction, in both insulating and metallic films. Smooth evolution of the ordered moment size across the insulator-metal phase boundary indicates strong ferromagnetic coupling between Mn moments that exists before the emergence of fully itinerant hole carriers.