The authors report on a systematic investigation of the longitudinal spin Seebeck effect (LSSE) in a GGG(Gd3Ga5O12)/GdIG(Gd3Fe5O12)/Pt film series exhibiting an in‐plane magnetic easy axis with a compensation temperature (TComp) that decreases from 270 to 220 K when decreasing GdIG film thickness from 272 to 31 nm, respectively. For all the films, the LSSE signal flips its sign below TComp. The authors demonstrate a universal scaling behavior of the temperature dependence of LSSE signal for the GdIG films around their respective TComp. Additionally, the authors demonstrate LSSE in a 31 nm GdIG film grown on a lattice‐mismatched GSGG (Gd3Sc2Ga3O12) substrate that exhibits an out‐of‐plane magnetic easy axis at room temperature. However, this sample reveals a spin reorientation transition where the magnetic easy axis changes its orientation to in‐plane at low temperatures. A clear distinction is observed in the LSSE signal for the GSGG/GdIG(31 nm)/Pt heterostructure, relative to GGG/GdIG(31 nm)/Pt showing an in‐plane magnetic easy axis. The findings underscore a strong correlation between the LSSE signal and the orientation of magnetic easy axis in compensated ferrimagnets and opens the possibility to tune LSSE through effective anisotropy.

The insulating nature and the low intrinsic damping of rare earth iron garnets made them the material of choice for spintronic research. While yttrium iron garnet (YIG) thin films are well studied and especially known for their ultralow Gilbert damping parameter, recently other rare earth iron garnet (RIG) thin films with more complex magnetic structures have gained interest. Tunable magnetic properties like the magnetic compensation temperature or perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) are hereby of great interest for the implementation in spintronic devices. In this regard, calculations predict PMA which can be induced by magnetoelastic anisotropy for the RIGs, depending on the substrate choice and subsequent film strain. We have therefore investigated the influence of lattice mismatch provided by various garnet substrates and film stoichiometry on the structural and magnetic properties of gadolinium iron garnet (GdIG) thin films with thicknesses between 13 and 218 nm. Epitaxial, single-crystalline films exhibiting smooth interfaces were prepared by pulsed laser deposition at elevated temperatures. PMA is obtained for GdIG thin films grown under tensile in-plane strain on Gd3Sc2Ga3O12 (GSGG) substrates. Furthermore, a thickness series reveals a slow structural relaxation and PMA even for 218 nm thick GdIG films. In contrast, slightly off-stoichiometric films show a reduction or even loss in PMA. All GdIG films exhibit a magnetic compensation point in the range between 210–260 K, which is lower than for bulk (286 K). In addition, a temperature dependent spin reorientation transition was observed for GdIG/GSGG samples. Therefore, GdIG films provide tunable magnetic properties controllable by film strain, stoichiometry, and temperature, which will be beneficial for further research in the related fields of magnonics and spintronics.

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