Synthesis of single domain strontium ferrite powder by pulsed laser ablation

Strontium hexaferrite nanoparticles have been successfully prepared from a sintered SrFe12O19 target, using pulsed excimer laser ablation and cold condensation technique. The as-condensed powders do not exhibit the same magnetic properties as the target material. However, annealing at a high temperature of 850 °C for 3 h in air followed by fast cooling yields very high coercivity of 6665 Oe, exhibiting presence of single domain particles. Vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and x-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques are used to study the magnetism, microstructure, and phase formation in the powders, respectively.