On the fabrication of one-dimensional magnetophotonic crystals from various oxides and metal-organic decomposition-made Bi_0.5Y_2.5Fe₅O₁₂

We demonstrate an approach for the fabrication of one-dimensional magnetophotonic crystals (1D MPCs) that are composed of electron beam evaporation-deposited Bragg mirrors (BMs) and a bismuth-substituted yttrium iron garnet layer made by metal-organic decomposition. Since such a garnet layer is crystallized at high temperatures, changes in structural and optical properties of BMs caused by annealing are studied. By subjecting single layers of SiO2, HfO2, ZrO2, and Ta2O5 to annealing, we found changes in their optical constants and thicknesses and interpreted stop band shifts in spectra of BMs. The ZrO2/SiO2 pair was found to be resistant to annealing and was used for 1D MPC fabrication. The resulting 1D MPCs were shown to exhibit Faraday rotation enhancement by an order of magnitude at a wavelength of the Fabry-Perot resonance.