Magnetic properties of single-crystalline Mott insulator YVO3

Single crystals of YVO3 were grown using the floating-zone technique. YVO3 crystallizes in the orthorhombic Pbnm structure, and the structural paramet ers were determined by means of neutron diffraction. Using a superconductin g quantum interference device magnetometer, we have studied the magnetic pr operties of YVO3 along the three principal directions. Our single crystal e xhibits two magnetic transitions at about 115 and 75 K. For temperatures ab ove the magnetic ordering, almost isotropic Curie-Weiss behavior is found f or the magnetic susceptibility. Below the ordering, however, we find a high ly anisotropic response with the c axis as the easy-magnetization direction . Both magnetic phases exhibit a weak ferromagnetic component along the c a xis. A complex low-field magnetization behavior indicates that YVO3 orders ferrimagnetically for temperatures between 75 and 115 K. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)59308-0].