Magneto-Optical Faraday Rotation in Ce:YIG Thin Films Incorporating Gold Nanoparticles

We report an experimental study on optical and magneto-optical properties of Ce-substituted yttrium iron garnet thin films incorporating gold nanoparticles. Au nanoparticles were formed by heating Au thin film on cu- bic quartz and garnet substrates in a vacuum chamber and a Ce:YIG layer was deposited on them by the aid of the pulsed laser deposition method. A large enhancement of the Fara- day rotation was obtained in the sample with Au nanopar- ticles on a quartz substrate and the effect of the substrate material on improving the optical and magneto-optical re- sponse of samples were investigated.

Magneto-optical Faraday rotation · Surface Plasmon resonance · Gold nanoparticles · Garnet thin films