Pulsed Laser Deposition and Growth Studies of Bi3Fe5O12 on Gd3Ga5O12 and SiO2

Magneto-optical garnets stand out because they exhibit a high Faraday rotation and low optical losses in the near infrared region. In this spectral range garnets are the only materials discussed in optical communications to realize nonreciprocal devices such as optical isolators. Such isolators are necessary to prevent reflected light caused by e.g. cable splices from irregularly entering optical components and hence to reduce the noise signal. Nowadays one wants to integrate such macroscopic optical components on a single chip leading to integrated optics. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to understand the principle growth mechanism, so that one can deposit high quality thin films of the optical active materials.We deposited Bi3Fe5O12 on (100), (110) and (111) Gd3Ga5O12 and on SiO2 by Pulsed Laser Deposition. Here we want to give details on the growth and preferential growth direction of the films. Our investigations have been carried out by utilizing an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy, Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis, Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy, and X-ray Diffraction. We also report on the Faraday rotation of the films, which has been determined in a special setup polarization microscope.