LAUSR

Comparative studies have been made to understand the role of different crystallographic site preferences of the substituted non-magnetic divalent metal ions in the magnetostrictive properties of cobalt ferrite, by substitution of Zn2+ and/or Mg2+ for Fe3+ in CoMgxFe2−xO4, CoZnxFe2−xO4, and CoMgx/2Znx/2Fe2−xO4 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.2). Detailed Raman spectral and magnetic characterizations are made to extract the information on the tetrahedral/octahedral site preferences of Zn and Mg in the spinel lattice of cobalt ferrite. The structural, microstructural, magnetic, Raman spectral, and magnetostrictive parameters of the studied compositions show distinguishable variations for x < 0.1 and x ≥ 0.1. Co-substitution of a small amount of Mg and Zn for Fe in CoMgx/2Znx/2Fe2−xO4 (x < 0.1) showed relatively larger strain sensitivity, [dλ/dH]max (−2.6 × 10−9 mA−1 for x = 0.05), higher than that for the Mg-substituted samples (−2.05 × 10−9 mA−1 for x = 0.05) and comparable to that for the Zn-substituted samples (−2.47 × 10−9...