Percolation Magnetism in Ferroelectric Nanoparticles

Nanoparticles of potassium tantalate (KTaO(3)) and potassium niobate (KNbO(3)) were synthesized by oxidation of metallic tantalum in molten potassium nitrate with the addition of potassium hydroxide. Magnetization curves obtained on these ferroelectric nanoparticles exhibit a weak ferromagnetism, while these compounds are nonmagnetic in a bulk. The experimental data are used as a start point for theoretical calculations. We consider a microscopic mechanism that leads to the emerging of a ferromagnetic ordering in ferroelectric nanoparticles. Our approach is based on the percolation of magnetic polarons assuming the dominant role of the oxygen vacancies. It describes the formation of surface magnetic polarons, in which an exchange interaction between electrons trapped in oxygen vacancies is mediated by magnetic impurity Fe(3+) ions. The dependences of percolation radius on concentration of the oxygen vacancies and magnetic defects are determined in the framework of percolation theory.