Dielectric and magnetocaloric study of TmCrO₃

Dielectric and magnetocaloric measurements are carried out for the chromite TmCrO₃. This oxide was reported to be multiferroic below the Néel temperature (T_N) of ∼125 K, likely due to a structural transformation. The dielectric response shows large dielectric constants below 300 K. However, from the analyses of loss tangent, AC conductivity and dielectric modulus, this behavior is rooted in hopping of charge carriers rather than electric dipoles, as proposed for some other chromites. No dielectric anomaly is found at T_N. The magnetocaloric effect shows that the magnetic transitions at T_N as well as the spin reorientation temperature are of a second order. This result strongly suggests the absence of magnetostructural transition at T_N in accord with no observation of ferroelectric transition at this temperature.