Strong magneto-optical enhancement and magnetic anisotropy tuning in Ce-substituted yttrium iron garnet films grown in argon and oxygen

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A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
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Date

2025-09-09

Department

Department of Applied Physics
OtaNano

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Language

en

Pages

10

Series

Physical Review Materials, Volume 9, issue 9, pp. 1-10

Abstract

Magneto-optical materials with low optical absorption are essential for realizing nonreciprocal light propagation in integrated photonic circuits. Among them, cerium-substituted yttrium iron garnet (Ce:YIG) stands out for its exceptionally high Faraday rotation. In this work, we investigate how film thickness and deposition atmosphere influence the structural, magnetic, and magneto-optical properties of Ce:YIG (Ce1Y2Fe5O12) films. Using pulsed laser deposition in argon and oxygen environments, we grew coherently strained, smooth films on (111)-oriented gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) substrates, with thicknesses up to 220 nm. Films grown in argon exhibit a significantly expanded out-of-plane lattice parameter, inducing perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, whereas those deposited in oxygen display in-plane magnetization. Remarkably, Ce:YIG films grown in argon show up to a twofold increase in magneto-optical activity compared to their oxygen-grown counterparts, achieving a Faraday rotation of 5.0â /μm at 780 nm. This enhancement is attributed to prolonged electronic relaxation times and longer-lived excitations in the more heavily strained films.

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Publisher Copyright: © 2025 American Physical Society.

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DOI

10.1103/68z6-zft1

Citation

Hyun, J, Flajšman, L, Hohlfeld, J, Yao, L, Sainio, J & Van Dijken, S 2025, 'Strong magneto-optical enhancement and magnetic anisotropy tuning in Ce-substituted yttrium iron garnet films grown in argon and oxygen', Physical Review Materials, vol. 9, no. 9, 094405, pp. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1103/68z6-zft1

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202512299575

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[article-cris] Perustieteiden korkeakoulu / SCI