Synthesis of New Magnetooptical Material, Bismuth Iron Garnet

Abstract

Since an anomalously large Faraday rotation ({theta}F) for BiCa{sub 2}Fe{sub 4}VO{sub 12} was reported in 1969, bismuth-iron garnets have attracted attention as high-performance magnetooptical materials. Since the magnitude of the magnetooptical effect is proportional to the Bi content, there is much interest in heavy bismuth substitution. However, completely substituted Bi{sub 3}Fe{sub 5}O{sub 12} is not found naturally, nor has it every been successfully synthesized. Here, the authors report on the successful synthesis of an oxide compound of Bi and Fe with the garnet structure, albeit under certain restricted conditions.