Curie temperatures of Y3Fe5O12/Gd3Fe5O12 superlattices

The magneto-optical Kerr effects (MOKE) of epitaxial Y₃Fe₅O₁₂/Gd₃Ga₅O₁₂ (YIG/GGG) garnet superlattices grown on (1 1 1)GGG previously by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) were measured. A series of superlattices were investigated with the thickness of the ferrimagnetic YIG layer varied from six unit cells to only one unit cell while keeping the Curie paramagnetic GGG fixed at one unit cell. It was demonstrated that the ellipsometric technique employing photoelastic modulators (PEM) is sensitive enough to measure the MOKE signals of these ultrathin oxide samples. The Curie temperatures, determined by MOKE, are fit with a power law, yielding a shift exponent λ = 3.1 ± 1.2.