Structure and magnetic properties of epitaxial LiFe5O8 film with different growth temperatures

Spinel lithium ferrite (LiFe5O8) has attracted a great deal of attention due to its potential applications in isolators, circulators, and phase shifters. In this work, thin films of LiFe5O8 were fabricated on (001) MgO substrates using pulsed laser deposition technology. Thin films with excellent crystallization qualities were acquired by controlling the growth temperature. Interestingly, the results from reciprocal space mappings (RSMs) indicate that the in-plane lattice parameter a and the out-of-plane lattice parameter c were modulated by changing the film growth temperature. Moreover, the magnetism of LiFe5O8 thin films with different temperatures was significantly studied by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements. These findings illustrate that controlling the growth temperature of the films is an effective method to tailor the lattice parameter and to further modify the magnetic properties of epitaxial LiFe5O8 thin films.