A-Site Cation disorder and Size variance effects on the physical   properties of multiferroic Bi0.9RE0.1FeO3 Ceramics (RE =Gd3+,Tb3+,Dy3+)
  Effect of an internal chemical pressure on structural, optical, magnetic and electrical properties in Bi0.9RE0.1FeO3 Ceramics (RE =Gd3+,Tb3+,Dy3+)has been studied extensively. Some of the highlights are as follows; 1. Coexistence of orthorhombic Bragg reflections along with the R3c phase.(Structural Phase separation revealed from XRD and Raman spectroscopy) 2. Selective softening of phonon mode corresponding to oxygen motion suggests a significant destabilization in the FeO6 octahedra. 3. Three Charge transfer transitions (Fe1 3d\rightarrow Fe2 3d, Op \rightarrow Fed,Op \rightarrow Bip) and a doubly degenerate d-d transition (6A1g \rightarrow 4T2g) have been observed through optical studies. 4. The suppression of spiral spin structure release the macroscopic magnetization so called weak ferromagnetism in RE-BFO samples and expalined by presence of DM interaction 5. Heat flow measurement reveals a decrease in Neel transition temperature (TN) with RE3+-ion substitution endorses the suppression of antiferromagnetic ordering. Present results also provide an 6. A decrease in vacant sites was confirmed from the lower density of states N(Ef) of charge carriers in RE-BFO samples, further it also correlates well with the hopping length (Rmin) and conductivity studies. All the results are well correlated. 
T. Karthik, T. Durga Rao, A. Srinivas, and Saket Asthana
cond-mat.mtrl-sci cond-mat.str-el