Structural, magnetic and magneto-optical properties of the bulk and thin film synthesized cerium- and praseodymium-doped yttrium iron garnet

Abstract

In this study, bulk and thin films of the Pr and Ce co-doped yttrium iron garnet, Pr0.5CexY2.5-xFe5O12, with various contents of Ce, x=0.25, 0.5 and 0.75, were synthesized and investigated. The solid-state method was used to synthesize the bulk samples and the films were deposited by the Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) method. The phase and structure analysis of the samples were investigated by the XRD, SEM, and AFM techniques. The results show that the bulk samples contain the secondary phases of cerium oxide (CeO2) and iron oxide (Fe2O3). After deposition, a single garnet phase is formed in the (444) orientation on GGG (111) substrate. The investigation of the magnetic properties was undertaken by VSM. The results of the VSM manifested the positive impression of the additives on the saturation magnetization from 33.47 emug in the un-doped sample to 37.07 emug in the sample containing 0.25 mol of Ce. The saturation magnetization plunged to 25.39 emug in a sample involving 0.75 mol of Ce due to the forming of the secondary phases. In order to find the co-dopant effect on the magneto-optical properties, the Faraday rotation of the films was measured. The Faraday rotation of the samples was found to be 0.74, 0.82 and 1.24 degμm for x= 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75, respectively. Comparing the results with the literature manifests the synergistic effect of the two additives.