Structure, optical and magnetic properties of Bi1−xEuxFeO3 films fabricated by pulsed laser deposition

Multiferroic Bi1−xEuxFeO3 (BEFOx, x = 0, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07, 0.10) films were grown on (1 0 0) SrTiO3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition. X-ray diffraction analysis indicates the strong (h 0 0) peaks, and no impurity phases are observed. Atomic force microscopy shows the root mean square roughness of the films is less than 0.87 nm, which indicates the BEFOx films are smooth and uniform. Transmittance spectra demonstrate that the optical band gap of the BEFOx films decreases with increasing Eu content. The saturation magnetization Ms of the BEFOx films is significantly enhanced with increasing Eu content, which provides potential applications in magnetoelectric memory devices and data storage media.