Microwave and magneto-optic properties of pulsed laser deposited bismuth iron garnet films

We report on processing and comparative characterization of epitaxial Bi/sub 3/Fe/sub 5/O/sub 12/ (BIG) films grown by pulsed laser ablation of a precursor oxide target onto (NdGd)/sub 3/(ScGa)/sub 5/O/sub 12/ [NGSGG[111]] and Gd/sub 3/(ScGa)/sub 5/O/sub 12/ [GSGG[001]] single crystals. Comprehensive X-ray diffraction analyses reveal the epitaxial quality of the BIG films: they are single phase, exclusively [111] and [001] oriented with less than 0.4/spl deg/ and 0.06/spl deg/ of the full width at half maximum of the rocking curve of main texture Bragg reflection [[111] for NGSGG and [001] for GSGC substrate, respectively]. The films are strongly in-plane textured with cube-on-cube film-to-substrate epitaxial relationship. VSM and ferromagnetic resonance measurements revealed in-plane magnetization in BIG/GSCG[001] film, while the BIG/NGSGG[111] film was found to have perpendicular magnetization. For BIG[001] and [111] films the saturation magnetization 4/spl pi/M/sub s/ was found to be 1400 and 1200 Gs; the Faraday rotation at 635 nm was -7.8 and -6.7 deg//spl mu/m; the constant of uniaxial magnetic anisotropy was K/sub u/*=-8.70/spl times/10/sup 4/ and +1.16/spl times/10/sup 4/ erg/cm/sup 3/; the constant of cubic magnetic anisotropy K/sub 1/=-3.6/spl times/10/sup 3/ and -7.14/spl times/10/sup 3/ erg/cm/sup 3/. High Faraday rotation and low coercive field (/spl les/40 Oe) of BIG/GSGG[001] films show promise for their use in integrated magneto-optic applications.