Abstract

Barium ferrite thin films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy have been prepared on heated (001) sapphire substrates by laser ablation deposition in an oxygen atmosphere using a KrF excimer laser. X-ray diffraction patterns reveal highly oriented films of the magnetoplumbite phase with a c-axis angular spread of 1.8” . Scanning electron micrographs reveal that these films are polycrystalline with a crystallite size of 0.4 ,um. There is no surface particulate contamination. The saturation magnetization was similar to bulk barium ferrite, and the coercivity was 145 mT. The magneto-optical properties of the films are compared with those derived from the optical and magneto-optical constants of the bulk material.