Three inch diameter bismuth-doped thulium iron garnet single-crystal films by liquid phase epitaxy for magneto-optical applications

Large diameter single crystal garnet films are in urgent need for the burgeoning optical communication [1] as well as novel Spintronics applications [2]. Existing growth technologies not only produce environmental toxic waste from the use of Pb but also result in a large lattice mismatch leading to high defect density, high loss and small Faraday rotation angle (FRA). To address these needs, this paper proposes a new rare earth garnet film, i.e., Bi-doped TmIG (Bi:TmIG), whose ideal composition is designed to best match the lattice constant between thin film and the Gd 3 Ga 5 O 12 (111) single crystal substrate. We report the successful growth of a 3-inch diameter magneto-optical (MO) single crystal garnet film having the composition (TmBi) 3 (FeGa) 5 O 12 by using the liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) method.