Structural, magnetic, and optical properties of orthoferrite thin films

Pulsed laser deposition was used to create thin films of Ce-Fe-O and Y-Fe-O systems. Deposition temperature and ambient oxygen pressure were varied systematically between samples to determine which deposition conditions were most favorable to the formation of cerium/yttrium orthoferrite. The structure and composition of each film were then determined using X-ray diffraction and wavelength dispersive spectroscopy respectively. In addition, the magnetic and optical properties of the yttrium films were characterized to determine the suitability of these materials as Faraday isolators at A=1550 nm. Results show that orthoferrite crystal structures in these systems are not stable in the temperature and oxygen ranges tested. It was also found that increasing oxygen pressure caused exponential decay in the deposition rate. Most films were amorphous, exhibiting a paramagnetic M-H plot and a Verdet coefficient between 0.37 and 0.89 deg cm-1 Gauss-1

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Supplee, William Wagner

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Caroline Ross.

• Materials Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/44813

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/44813