Growth and Optical Properties of Ce-Substituted Fibrous YIG Single Crystals

Abstract

Ce-substituted fibrous YIG (Y3-X Ce X Fe5O12; Ce:YIG) single crystals were successfully grown by a floating zone method using YAG laser heating. We observed that Ce:YIG crystals show uniform distribution of Ce in the YIG crystal and an excellent magnetooptical property in the near-infrared region up to the Ce substitution of X=0.3. However, the solubility limit of Ce into the YIG crystal was confirmed to be approximately 0.3 in our growth method, by the composition analysis, lattice constant and Faraday rotation measurements. Ce-substituted YIG with X=0.3 shows a large Faraday rotation and small optical absorption coefficient in the wavelength region of 1.51–1.57 µm and is expected to be applicable to the optical isolator.

Growth of terbium aluminum garnet (Tb3Al5O12; TAG) single crystals by the hybrid laser floating zone machine

“…During our research into the incongruent melting of YIG rod crystals [5][6][7][8], we realized that the laser floating zone (FZ) method has good potential to grow other incongruent materials. Moreover, crystals grown by the laser FZ method have a typically rod-like shape and are thought to be suitable for optical device applications because the light can travel through the cylindrical shape without complicated processing.…”

Magnetooptic iron garnet thin films for integrated optical applications

“…In general Garnets containing transition metals and in particular lanthanides are especially attractive for these specific applications. For example, Faraday rotation has been reported to increase in cerium-substituted YIG epitaxial films fabricated by radio frequency (RF) sputtering 3 and liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) 4 , and in cerium-substituted YIG bulk crystals grown by the floating zone 5 and traveling solvent floating zone (TSFZ) methods 6 .…”

Magnetic and Magneto-Optic Properties of Pulsed Laser Deposited CexY3−xFe5O12 Films

“…It is well known that the rare-earth iron gamets (ReIG) with the substitutions of either the diamagnetic Bi 3 ' and Pb2+ ions and/or of lighter rare-earth ions like Ce 3 Recently, cerium substitution to yttrium iron garnet (CexY 3 -.Fe 5 Ol 2 , Ce:YIG) has been shown to enhance significantly the Faraday effect with paramagnetic dispersion relation not only in the UV region (centered at h v = 3.1 eV) but also in the IR region at h v = 1.4 eV. 2 Ce:YIG appears to possess good magnetooptical quality, the figure of merit V, defined as a ratio of Faraday rotation (FR) angle OF [deg/cm] to the absorption coefficient a [cm-1J.…”

“…Here we present results on Nd:YAG pulsed laser deposited Ce•Y 3 Ce-substituted yttrium iron garnet films (CeXY 3 -XFe5O 12 ) were prepared by the pulsed laser deposition technique using a Nd:YAG laser (2 = 355 nm, 10 Hz pulse frequency, and 10 ns pulse width) at an energy density of 90 mJ/pulse. The films were deposited onto (111)-oriented Gd 3 Ga 5 O 12 (GOG) single-crystal substrates at 790 0 C for 30 minutes at various oxygen ambient pressures of 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100 mTorr.…”