Experimental demonstrations of unpinning domains in a saturated bismuth-substituted iron garnet

The utilization of a bismuth-substituted iron garnet as a magne-to-optic faraday rotator (MOFR) has been reported for all-optical networking purposes as well as for other applications [1 - 5]. When a significantly large magnetic field is applied to the MOFR, it will enter a saturated state. Once the material is saturated, the magnetic domains can become pinned into place [6]. In the past, unpinning the magnetic domains, and moving the MOFR material back into a desaturated state was a difficult task. This paper will present methods for unpinning the MOFR material, allowing the material to become desaturated.