[Bi3Fe5O12/Gd3Ga5O12]m magneto-optical photonic crystals -: art. no. 122504

A series of one-dimensional heteroepitaxial all-garnet magneto-optical photonic crystals has been synthesized and optically characterized. They are composed of alternating magneto-optically active Bi3Fe5O12 (BIG) and Gd3Ga5O12 (GGG) quarter-wave length layers pulsed laser deposited on to the GGG(001) substrate. Photonic crystals, as designed, exhibit stop band structure and the band gap with the transmittance central peak caused by the light localization in the half-wave length BIG cavity. Compared to previously reported [Bi3Fe5O12/Y3Fe5O12](m) photonic crystal [Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 1438 (2004)], the replacement of optically dense Y3Fe5O12 garnet by transparent Gd3Ga5O12 enables significant enhancement of light rejection within the stop band. Photonic crystals spectra experience "blue" shift in oblique incidence geometry thus demonstrating feasibility to use this effect for tunable magneto-optical filters. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.