Remanent domain structures in magnetic garnet epilayers after planar saturation

Garnet epilayers with a 〈111〉 axis tilted from the film normal have been subjected to a planar saturating field and their remanent domain structures studied with the Faraday effect. For certain directions of applied field, it is possible to produce a mixed polarity state. The creation of the mixed state is discussed in terms of homogeneous nucleation. The possibility of utilising the mixed state for characterising garnet properties is mentioned.