Fabry-perot faraday rotator on silicon substrate

A method of fabricating a Faraday rotator, comprising:

• providing a silicon substrate;
• forming a yttrium iron garnet (YIG) layer on the silicon substrate;
• annealing the YIG layer to crystalize the YIG layer to form a garnet phase;
• forming a cerium-doped YIG layer on the YIG layer;
• annealing the cerium-doped YIG layer to crystalize the cerium-doped YIG layer and form a garnet phase;
• and
• forming a reflector on the cerium-doped YIG layer.

An optical isolator, comprising:

• an input polarizer having a first axis of polarization;
• and
• a Faraday rotator comprising:
• a first reflector comprising a silicon substrate;
• a magneto-optic layer on the first reflector, the magneto-optic layer having a figure of merit of at least −1200° per centimeter for a predetermined wavelength of input light;
• and
• a second reflector on the magneto-optic layer, wherein the first reflector, the magneto-optic layer, and the second reflector are arranged to form an optical cavity.