Combinatorial Screening of the BiDyYb Iron Garnet Material System for High Kerr Rotation Composition

We investigated the (Bi
_x
Dy
_y
Yb
_3-x-y
)Fe
₅
O
₁₂
ternary combinatorial composition spread with the goal of finding new compositions with a large magneto-optical effect for possible use as magneto-optical storage materials. High-throughput magneto-optical characterization of the spread showed that the Dy
_0.6
Yb
_0.5
Bi
_1.9
Fe
₅
O
₁₂
composition has the largest Kerr effect in this ternary system. After annealing at 690degC for 1 h, a scaled-up thin-film sample of this composition has a remanent magnetization as high as 90% of its saturation magnetization, indicating a good storage application potential.