Spin-rotation phenomena and magnetic phase diagrams of hexagonal RMnO3

Magnetic phase diagrams of the hexagonal RMnO3 (with R=Sc, Y, Ho, In, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu) compounds in the magnetic-field/temperature plane are established by linear and nonlinear magneto-optical techniques. Eight different magnetic phases of the Mn3+ sublattice and at least three different phases of the R3+ sublattices are distinguished. Phase coexistence and photoinduced modification of the magnetic structure are observed. Magnetic reorientations of the Mn3+ lattice can occur via in-phase or antiphase rotation of the triangularly frustrated spins in the adjacent crystallographic planes. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.