Temperature dependent electron paramagnetic resonance study on magnetoelectric YCrO<inf>3</inf>

We report temperature dependent electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies on polycrystalline YCrO3 samples at X-band (9.46 GHz) in the temperature range of 120 K-298 K. The EPR spectra exhibit a single broad line across the whole temperature range, attributed to Cr3+ ions. The variation of EPR spectra parameters (line width, integrated intensity, and g-factor) as a function of temperature was analyzed to understand the nature of spin-dynamics in the paramagnetic region of YCrO3. A peak in the g-factor suggests the presence of a new phase within the paramagnetic state at an intermediate point of temperature T IP ∼ 230 K, attributed to the onset of short range canted antiferromagnetic correlations in the material much above 140 K, Néel temperature (T N) of YCrO3. The EPR intensity increases with a decrease in temperature up to T N due to the renormalization of the magnetic moments arising from the appearance of canted antiferromagnetic correlations. Further, temperature dependent dielectric measurements also exhibit an anomaly at ∼230 K suggesting the presence of magnetodielectric coupling in YCrO3, with a possibility towards a relatively high temperature magnetodielectric system.