Irradiation induced texturing in the Mg0.95Mn0.05Fe2O4 ferrite thin film

We present a study on the effect of swift heavy ions irradiation on the structural and magnetic properties of Mg0.95Mn0.05Fe2O4 ferrite thin film grown by pulsed laser deposition technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of the as-deposited film reveals a cubic spinel structure with an intermediate phase of α-Fe2O3. This impurity phase completely dissolves upon irradiation with 200 MeV Ag15+-ions and it exhibits a strong crystallographic texture along the (440) plane. The magnetization values start increasing systematically with irradiation at lower fluence values, whereas decrease for higher one. This decrease in magnetic signal can be attributed to partial amorphization caused by irradiation in agreement with XRD and atomic/magnetic force microscopic images.