Magneto-Optical Properties of Cerium-Substituted Yttrium Iron Garnet Single Crystals Grown by Traveling Solvent Floating Zone Method

Abstract

A cerium-substituted yttrium iron garnet (Y3-x Ce x Fe5O12) single crystal was grown by the traveling solvent floating zone (TSFZ) method in an oxygen environment. Using a Fe- and Ce-rich solvent, high quality single crystals with smooth and lustrous surface were grown at a rate of 1.0 mm/h. The segregation coefficient of Ce was calculated approximately as 0.2 from the compositional profile in the grown crystals measured by electron probe X-ray microanalyzer (EPMA). The optical absorption coefficient and the Faraday rotation angle of Y2.82Ce0.18Fe5O12 at 1550 nm wavelength were 0.12 cm-1 and -740 deg/cm, respectively. The figure of merit of a Faraday rotator was 1423 deg/dB. The absorption loss and sensitivity of the same Y2.82Ce0.18Fe5O12 (d=0.6 mm) for the magnetic field sensor were 0.03 dB and 0.1%/Oe, respectively, at 1550 nm wavelength. These results suggest that cerium-substituted yttrium iron garnet is a high performance material for the Faraday rotator at 1550 nm wavelength.

On-chip optical isolation in monolithically integrated non-reciprocal optical resonators

“…This behaviour results from two terms in equation (3): the positive dispersion of the FSR and the negative dispersion of the magneto-optical properties in Ce:YIG materials, decreasing the Db TM term at longer wavelengths. The negative Db TM dispersion is consistent with a previous materials study 22 , and is attributed to a reduction in the oscillator strength for the Ce 3þ (4f )-Fe 3þ (tetrahedral) electronic transition at 1-2 eV, which is considered to be the origin of the enhancement in the near-infrared magneto-optical effect in this material 23 . By incorporating Ce:YIG in the patterned resonator structure, the large negative dispersion of the magneto-optical properties is compensated by the positive dispersion of the FSR, resulting in the low dispersion seen in the device performance.…”

Oxygen partial pressure dependence of magnetic, optical and magneto-optical properties of epitaxial cobalt-substituted SrTiO_3 films

“…Substituted iron garnet films (i.e. Ce:YIG) is often used in non-reciprocal device applications [13,[28][29][30]. These garnet films have very high MO figure-of-merit in bulk [29,30], but it is lower for integrated thin films [13,28].…”

Effect of the pulling rate on the quality of cerium-substituted YIG single-crystal fibers by LHPG

“…Ceriumsubstituted YIG (Y 3Àx Ce x Fe 5 O 12 , Ce:YIG) single crystals, for example, have already been extensively studied. The addition of cerium oxide can significantly enhance the Faraday rotation and reduce the optical propagation losses [5,7,8]. This makes Ce:YIG a very promising material for magneto-optical devices.…”

“…It is also difficult to dissociate cerium oxide at a low temperature [12,13]. The experimental segregation coefficient (k e ) of Ce in YIG is less than 1 [8,14] which means that the melting temperature of Ce:YIG is lower than that of pure YIG. Therefore, the growth conditions of Ce:YIG single crystal have to be suitably modified from those of YIG single crystal.…”