Interface-Mediated YIG/Ce:YIG Bilayers Structure with Enhanced Magneto-optical Properties via Pulsed Laser Deposition

For the realization of integrated nonreciprocal photonic devices for optical communication, on-chip monolithic integration of magneto-optical materials onto silicon remains a challenge. Implemented with pulsed laser deposition (PLD), a MgO interfacial layer is introduced to overcome the material incompatibilities between a silicon substrate and magneto-optical thin films of yttrium iron garnet (YIG). With a thickness of ∼40 nm, the amorphous interfacial layer of MgO can effectively inhibit interdiffusion across YIG/Si and promote the growth of a high-density, high-phase-purity polycrystalline garnet structure in the bilayer of YIG/Ce:YIG. Such modified chemistry and microstructure in YIG/Ce:YIG lead to enhanced magneto-optical properties, including an ∼38% increase in Faraday rotation and an ∼15% increase in saturation magnetization, as well as an ∼20% increase in infrared (IR) transmission. Offering dual functions of diffusion barrier and structure template, the MgO layer demonstrated herein suggests a new remedy solution to heterogeneous interfaces in advanced thin film devices.