Growth of epitaxial films of paramagnetic garnets and their characterization by cems and double-crystal diffractometry

Abstract We report on the LPE growth of iron garnet films, paramagnetic at room temperature because of a high substitution (up to 1.7 atoms per formula unit) of diamagnetic Sc 3+ for Fe 3+ . For yttrium iron garnet, the maximum amount of Sc 3+ that can be substituted is found to be an increasing function of the growth temperature, and to be little dependent on the Sc concentration in the melt. Simultaneous substitution of La 3+ enhances the maximum Sc 3+ substitution obtainable, and appears to increase the Sc 3+ preference for octahedral garnet sites.