Effect of Gadolinium Addition on Magnetic and Magneto-Optical Properties of Yttrium Iron Garnet Crystal

Miniaturization and integration of the isolation device are new requirements in the emerging magneto-optical field due to the development of near and mid-infrared high-power solid-state lasers. In order to optimize the comprehensive properties of Y3Fe5O12 crystal, the effect of Gd3+ ions doping crystal was investigated in this paper. Gd1.3Y1.7Fe5O12 (abbreviated as GYIG) single crystal was grown by the top seeded solution growth method. The saturation magnetization is 14.4 emu/g, and the transmittance is more than 70%. At 1310 and 1550 nm, the Faraday rotation angles (FRAs) are 174 and 130°/cm. Experimental evidence suggests that annealing in an oxygen atmosphere can greatly reduce the concentration of Fe2+ ions and oxygen vacancy defects, resulting in ∼5% increase in transmittance and FRA. These results provide valuable clues to the effects of rare earths for magneto-optical crystals.