Pulsed laser deposition of Y3Fe5O12 and Bi3Fe5O12 films on garnet substrates

We prepared Y3Fe5O12 (YIG) and Bi3Fe5O12 (BIG) films by pulsed laser deposition and present some practical aspects here. Low laser repetition rates result in a loss of oxygen and reduce the saturation magnetization of YIG by a factor of 5. Small changes of deposition conditions and lattice match for BIG films have little influence on the spectra of Faraday rotation but change magnetic coercivities by a factor of 10. Thin BIG films show higher coercivities than thick films. Coercivities increase with lattice mismatch between film and substrate. The wavelength of maximum Faraday rotation for BIG films in visible light depends on film thickness: We observed a redshift of almost 40 nm for a 2.6 mum thick film as compared to a 470 nm thick film. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.