Study of the magnetic modifications of Fe3O4 ferrite thin films induced by 2.03 GeV Kr ions irradiation

The effect of 2.03 GeV Kr26+ ions irradiation on antiphase boundaries (APBs) of polycrystalline Fe3O4 ferrite thin films has been investigated. The structure, magnetic and electrical transport properties of samples were characterized. The initial crystallographic structure of the Fe3O4 remains unaffected after Kr-ion irradiation, but the magnetic and electrical transports properties are sensitive to swift heavy ions (SHI) irradiation and exhibit different behaviors depending on the Kr-ion fluence range. The energy deposition is mainly due to the electronic energy loss (S-e) and the large value of energy transferred induces an unusual density of defects, stress and heat annealing effect in the samples, which can affect on the arrangement of magnetic moments and APBs density strongly. On the basis of our observations we conclude that the production, accumulation and free of the defects and stress induced by SHI irradiation is more dominant in the case of the magnetic and electrical transport properties modifications of the Fe3O4 thin films. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.