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Bi-substituted rare-earth iron garnets, (REBi) 3 Fe 5 O 12 (REBiIG), are used in wide-band optical communication as Faraday rotators in an optical isolator. However, the influence of rare-earth ions on the magneto optical (MO) properties of REBiIG crystals, such as specific Faraday rotation (FR) and coercive force, is not clear. The aim of the present work is to compare the MO properties of garnets doped with different rare-earth ions. REBiIG (RE ¼ Ho, Yb, or/and Tb) crystals were grown from Bi 2 O 3 self-fluxed melts by the top-seeded solution growth method under the same conditions. It was found that both specific FR and coercive force decrease with an increase in rare-earth ion radius. The FR wavelength stability of HoYbBiIG is better than that of YbBiIG but worse than that of HoBiIG. However, the FR temperature stability of HoYbBiIG is worse than that of YbBiIG but better than that of HoBiIG. It is noted that HoYbBiIG crystal is a trade-off between HoBiIG and YbBiIG crystals in terms of MO properties.

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The traditional magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) measurements involve measuring the intensity of a light reflected off the samples subjected to a DC magnetic field. By superimposing an AC field to the sweeping DC field, and measuring the AC component of the light intensity, we achieved a high signal-to-noise ratio and a better resolution in determining the Curie temperatures of magnetic samples. For a demonstration, we have determined the Curie temperature of a 350 nm thick YIG (yttrium iron garnet, Y 3 Fe 5 O 12 ) thin film to be 511.0 +/− 0.5 K using this method.

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