Faraday effect in cubic and tetragonal copper ferrite CuFe2O4 films—Comparative studies

Abstract Sputter deposited copper ferrite, CuFe 2 O 4 , films can be stabilized in two phases at room temperature depending on the deposition conditions and post-deposition heat treatment i.e. in tetragonal phase in slowly cooled (SC) films, or cubic phase in rapidly quenched films. Here we report on the Faraday rotation (FR) and magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) study in these nanocrystalline CuFe 2 O 4 thin films. The measurements were performed from the near infrared (IR) to the ultraviolet (UV) spectral range. Analysis of the IR spectral structure, which remarkably differs in cubic and tetragonal phases, enabled us to estimate redistribution of copper ions between particular crystal sites in quenched and SC films.