Exquisite growth control and magnetic properties of yttrium iron garnet thin films

A layer-by-layer epitaxial growth up to 227 atomic layers of ferrimagnetic insulator yttrium iron garnet (YIG) thin films is achieved on (110)-oriented gadolinium gallium garnet substrates using pulsed laser deposition. Atomically smooth terraces are observed on YIG films up to 100 nm in thickness....

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Published inApplied physics letters Vol. 108; no. 10
Main Authors Tang, Chi, Aldosary, Mohammed, Jiang, Zilong, Chang, Houchen, Madon, Benjamin, Chan, Kyle, Wu, Mingzhong, Garay, Javier E., Shi, Jing
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Melville American Institute of Physics 07.03.2016
Subjects
Anisotropy
Applied physics
Damping
Epitaxial growth
Ferrimagnetism
Gadolinium
Gadolinium-gallium garnet
Iron
Magnetic properties
Magnetism
Pulsed laser deposition
Pulsed lasers
Substrates
Thick films
Thin films
Yttrium
Yttrium-iron garnet
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Summary:A layer-by-layer epitaxial growth up to 227 atomic layers of ferrimagnetic insulator yttrium iron garnet (YIG) thin films is achieved on (110)-oriented gadolinium gallium garnet substrates using pulsed laser deposition. Atomically smooth terraces are observed on YIG films up to 100 nm in thickness. The root-mean-square roughness is as low as 0.067 nm. The easy-axis lies in the film plane, indicating the dominance of shape anisotropy. For (110)-YIG films, there is well-defined two-fold in-plane anisotropy, with the easiest axis directed along [001]. The Gilbert damping constant is determined to be 1.0 × 10−4 for 100 nm thick films.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
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content type line 14
USDOE
SC0012670
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.4943210