MAGNETOOPTICAL PROPERTIES OF YIG-SC SINGLE-CRYSTALS

Faraday rotation measurements at 1152 nm were performed on single-crys tal oriented platelets of ferrimagnetic garnets of formula Y3Fe5-xScxO 12 (0<x<0.55) as a function of temperature and magnetic field. Sc3+ io ns substituting for octahedral Fe3+ have a much greater influence on t he spontaneous Faraday rotation than found for the corresponding tetra hedral diamagnetic substitution. The Faraday rotation susceptibility i s constant and independent of Sc concentration. The results are interp reted as the sum of magneto-optical contributions from the [a] and (d) sublattices proportional to their magnetizations and induced by magne tic and electric dipole transitions. The electric magneto-optical coef ficients deduced from a least squares fit of the experimental values a re linear functions of the Sc concentration.