Ce-substituted garnet media for magneto-optic recording

Abstract

The magnetic and magneto-optical properties of crystallized as-deposited Ce-substituted sputtered garnet films were measured as a function of temperature. The films were found to exhibit large Faraday rotation and high coercivity at room temperature. The small grain size and high squareness ratios of these films suggests that this media holds promise as a potential magneto-optical recording media candidate for use at laser diode wavelengths. Furthermore, it was found that depending upon the value of the sputtering system background pressure prior to film deposition the compensation temperature of these films varied from below room temperature to the Curie point. The temperature dependence of magnetization of these two types of films was found to be very different and ESCA analysis was performed in order to ascertain the origin of these differences.