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Magneto-optical garnets are attractive because of their high Faraday rotation and low optical loss in the near infrared. Therefore their use is generally in nonreciprocal devices, i.e., as optical isolators in optical communication. In this paper we present data concerning the deposition of Bi3Fe5O12 (BIG) thin films on (100) and (111) Gd3Ga5O12 substrates using pulsed-laser deposition. Laser-induced processes on the surface of the oxide target used for ablation were analyzed and numerous films were deposited. We found the BIG film quality to be strongly affected by oxygen pressure, laser energy density, and the Bi/Fe film ratio, whereas temperature had a minor influence. We also investigated the BIG-film deposition using a target pressed from metallic Bi and Fe powders and found information on the growth behavior of BIG. We report on details of the film deposition and film properties determined by environmental scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray analysis, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, and x-ray diffraction. In addition, we determined the Faraday rotation of the films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulsed-laser deposition is used for the deposition of [Bi.sub.3][Fe.sub.5][O.sub.12] (BIG) thin films on (100) and (111) [Gd.sub.3][Ga.sub.5][O.sub.12] substrates. The environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) images have shown that BIG tends to form islands of different shapes depending on the substrate surface plane, indicating a preferential (110) growth direction.