Structural, Optical, and Magnetic Characteristics of Iron-Garnet Films after Ion Etching

The experimental results of a study of the influence of ion etching of single-crystal films of cation-substituted iron-garnets on their structural, magnetic, optical, and magneto-optical properties are presented. It is shown that the ion etching of single-crystal garnets significantly reduces the surface roughness. Analysis of the domain structure, ferromagnetic resonance spectra, and magneto-optical hysteresis in the epitaxial film of bismuth-substituted iron-garnet during layer-by-layer ion etching shows the presence of three different layers, the state of which changes relative to the compensation point and the interfaces of the layers correspond to the transition through the compensation point. It is shown that the position of the layer interfaces can be varied by changing the temperature of the sample. A study of optical and magneto-optical characteristics shows that in single-crystal (epitaxial) films of iron-garnets, ion etching does not worsen optical transmission and does not destroy the garnet structure down to a thickness of tens of nanometers (the Faraday effect is preserved).