Formation of magnetic nanocrystals in germanate glasses doped with Fe and Dy

Magnetic nanocomposites were synthesized from germanate glasses doped with iron and dysprosium oxides at low concentrations. The formation of nanoparticles (∼5–20 nm in size) in glasses subjected to heat treatment under different conditions was observed using high-resolution electron microscopy. Nanoparticles had a well-resolved crystal structure. X-ray fluorescence microprobe analysis showed that iron and dysprosium are concentrated in particles. The examination of the field dependences of the magneto-optical effect revealed magnetic ordering in particles. A comparison of the interplanar distances obtained using electron microdiffraction with those of the known iron oxide compounds did not lead to unambiguous results. Almost all specific features in the magnetic circular dichroism spectra of the glasses corresponded to the features previously observed in the spectra of garnet ferrites. On this basis, it was assumed that the particles formed in the germanate glasses have a distorted garnet structure.