Room-Temperature Magnetism Realized by Doping Fe into Ferroelectric LiTaO₃

We synthesize LiTa_1?xFe_xO_3?σ (LTFO) ceramics by the conventional solid-state reaction method. The samples remain single phase up to x=0.09. The magnetic measurements show that the doping of Fe successfully realizes ferromagnetism of LTFO at room temperature. The dielectric measurements indicate that LTFO is ferroelectric, similarly to LiTaO₃ (LTO), but its ferroelectric Curie temperature seems to decrease with the increasing Fe content. By means of doping Fe ions into LTO, the coexistence of spontaneous electric polarization and spontaneous magnetic moment is realized at room temperature.