Temperature and field dependent magnetization studies on nano-crystalline ZnFe2O4 thin films

B N Sahu,Shiva Prasad,R Krishnan,K G Suresh,N Venkataramani

doi:10.1063/1.5007791

Abstract

Single phase nano-crystalline zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4) thin films were deposited on fused quartz substrate using the pulsed laser deposition technique. The films were deposited at different substrate temperatures. The field dependence of magnetization at 10 K shows hysteresis loops for all the samples. Temperature dependence of the field cooled (FC) and zero field cooled (ZFC) magnetization indicated irreversible behavior between the FC and ZFC data, and the irreversibility depends on the measuring magnetic field. The thermo-magnetic irreversibility in the magnetization data is correlated with the magnitude of the applied field and the coercivity (HC) obtained from the M-H loops.

Highlights

Zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4) is a normal spinel ferrite in which Zn2+ occupies the tetrahedral site (A) and Fe3+ occupies the octahedral site (B)
Nanocrystalline ZnFe2O4 exhibits anomalous magnetic behavior like ferrimagnetism, spin glass state, superparamagnetism or cluster glass state.[2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. These properties have been attributed to the deviation of cation redistribution from the normal spinel structure wherein some amount of Zn2+ ions occupy the B site and an equal amount Fe3+ ions are present on A sites
We have studied the magnetic properties of ZnFe2O4 thin films deposited at different TS values using Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD)

Summary

Introduction

Zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4) is a normal spinel ferrite in which Zn2+ occupies the tetrahedral site (A) and Fe3+ occupies the octahedral site (B). A weak superexchange interaction between Fe3+ ions on B sites, which are the only magnetic ions, causes the material to be antiferromagnetic with Neel temperature (TN) of ∼10 K. Nanocrystalline ZnFe2O4 exhibits anomalous magnetic behavior like ferrimagnetism, spin glass state, superparamagnetism or cluster glass state.[2,3,4,5,6,7,8] These properties have been attributed to the deviation of cation redistribution from the normal spinel structure wherein some amount of Zn2+ ions occupy the B site and an equal amount Fe3+ ions are present on A sites. The resulting superexchange interaction between Fe3+ ions at A and B sites contributes to the ferrimagnetism.[2,8,9,10]

Methods

Results

Conclusion