High resolution X-ray diffraction studies on unirradiated and irradiated strontium hexaferrite crystals.

High-resolution X-ray diffraction technique, employing a three-crystal monochromator-collimator combination is used to study the irradiation induced defects in flux grown Sr-hexaferrite crystals irradiated with 50 MeV Li ion beams at room temperature with a fluence value of 1 × 10 ions/cm. The diffraction curves of the irradiated crystals suggest the possibility of creation of low angle grain boundaries and other point/clusters of defects causing amorphization in the irradiated crystals. The perfection of the irradiated and unirradiated (0001) cleaved surfaces of the crystals is studied using the bulk method of X-ray topography. The topographs supplement the findings suggestive of modifications in the crystalline quality of SrFeO on irradiation with SHI of Li. Etching of the (0001) cleaved surfaces in HPO at 120°C suggests that the dissolution characteristics of the surfaces get affected on irradiation with SHI of Li, besides supporting the findings of HRXRD and X-ray topography regarding modifications in the perfection of SrFeO on irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]