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Abstract:
This article deals with the investigation of temperature and
magnetic field dependencies of the Faraday rotation (Fr) in the
scandium-substituted ytterbium iron garnet Yb3Fe5-xScxO12
(x=0.5) (YbIG: Sc) single crystals regarding the contributions
from magnetic sublattices. Fr was measured at 1152 nm
wavelength in the 6 K-T-Neel temperature range under a magnetic
field up to 20 kOe applied parallel to the three principal
crystallographic directions. When T<20 K, a strong anisotropy
(larger than 30%) of Fr-spont is observed with [111]
corresponding to the "easy" axis, [100] the "hard" and [110] to
intermediate ones, respectively. It is worth noting that
contrary to other ferrimagnetic garnets, chi(F) is positive for
[111]. A strong chi(F) anisotropy is found below 20 K. Even if,
because of the Sc substitution, the magnetic compensation point
has disappeared, a magneto-optical compensation point is still
observed as in pure YbIG. Through the analysis of rare earth
contribution to Fr, the first-order electric dipole transition
coefficient of the Yb3+ ion is strongly temperature dependent
as observed also in pure YbIG. (C) 2002 American Institute of
Physics.
