Epitaxial magnetic garnet heterostructures

A summary of our recent progress in the growth and characterization of magnetic and magnetooptic garnet heterostructures is presented in this paper. The similarity in crystal chemistry and lattice parameters among the various garnets (yttrium iron garnet, bismuth iron garnet, etc.) is utilized to create artificially layered heterostructures and superlattices. Rare earth (especially Eu) substitutions in the Bi site are shown to dramatically improve the magnetooptic response and change the easy axis from in-plane to out-of-plane. Microstructural studies indicate that the interface roughness is dependent on the thicknesses of the different layers suggesting the possible role of lattice mismatch induced stresses in surface roughening.