Orientation dependence of magnetic circular dichroism in tin-doped yttrium iron garnet

Measurements are reported of optical absorption and magnetic circular dichroism (MCD), in the range of wavelength 1.0-2.7 mu m, made on tin-doped YIG with the specimen orientations (100), (110) and (111). These effects are studied at room and liquid-nitrogen temperatures. The transitions at 1.15, 1.65 and 2.00 mu m, are clearly observed in the low-temperature absorption spectrum as well as in the MCD measurements. The MCD intensities at 1.15 mu m are proportional to 1:0.85:1.03 at room temperature and to 1:0.87:1.15 at 77K respectively for the (100), (110) and (111) samples. They are also consistent with the hypothesis assumed in the theory of Leoni and Tucciarone (1972) if the differences in doping concentration among the three samples are taken into consideration.