We synthesized a series of slightly erbium-substituted
yttrium
iron garnets (Er:YIG), Y
3–
x
Er
x
Fe
5
O
12
at different Er
concentrations (
x
= 0, 0.01, 0.05, 0.10, and 0.20)
using a solid-state reaction and investigated their structural, magnetic,
and optical properties as a function of Er concentration. The volume
of the unit cell slightly increased with Er concentration and Er atoms
predominately replaced Y atoms in the dodecahedrons of YIG. The optical
properties exhibited certain decreases in reflectance in the 1500–1600
nm wavelength range due to the presence of Er
3+
. Despite
the many unpaired 4f electrons in Er
3+
, the total magnetic
moments of Er:YIG showed similar trends with temperatures and magnetic
fields above 30 K. An X-ray magnetic circular dichroism study confirmed
the robust Fe 3d magnetic moments. However, the magnetic moments suddenly
decreased to below 30 K with Er substitution, and the residual magnetism
(
M
R
) and coercive field (
H
C
) in the magnetic hysteresis loops decreased to below
30 K with Er substitution. This implies that Er substitution in YIG
has a negligible effect on magnetic properties over a wide temperature
range except below 30 K where the Er 4f spins are coupled antiparallel
to the majority Fe 3d spins. Our studies demonstrated that above 30
K the magnetic properties of YIG are retained even with Er substitution,
which is evidence that the Er doping scheme is applicable for YIG-based
magneto-optical devices in the mid-infrared regime.