Competition between the crystal field and the exchange field in Er3+ doped NdMnO3

A careful investigation of specific heat shows that the ground state splitting of Nd 3+ has been modified by the Er 3+ doping, as it shows a nonlinear dependence on the Er 3+ doping rate, due to the competition between the crystal field and the exchange field. This competition could be further confirmed by the anomalies in the magnetic entropy and the ground state splitting found in Nd 0.9Er 0.1MnO 3. On the contrary, the ground state splitting of Er 3 has a linear dependence on the doping rate, indicating its stronger dependence on the crystal field rather than the exchange field. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.