Magneto-optical element material and Faraday element using the same

Abstract

Disclosed is a magneto-optical element material composed of a magnetic garnet single crystal which is small in temperature dependency of a Faraday rotation angle, capable of being formed into a film by the LPE, and significantly small in wavelength dependency of a Faraday rotation angle in a specific composition region defined by. The magneto-optical element material is composed of a magnetic garnet single crystal expressed by a composition formula of R.sub.3-x Bi.sub.x Fe.sub.5-v-w-y Ma.sub.v Mb.sub.w Co.sub.y O.sub.12 where R indicates a rare earth element including yttrium, Ma is a trivalent cationic element, and Mb is a tetravalent cationic element; and x, y, v and w satisfy relationships of 0.6.ltoreq.x.ltoreq.1.9, 0.01.ltoreq.y.ltoreq.0.47, 260y-88x+45.ltoreq.0, 500y-30x+37.ltoreq.0, 0.ltoreq.v.ltoreq.1.0, and 0.ltoreq.w.ltoreq.0.35. The material satisfying the following relationships of 0.01.ltoreq.y.ltoreq.0.28 and 800y-130x+45.ltoreq.0 specifically shows improvement in a wavelength dependency of a Faraday rotation angle. Further disclosed is a Faraday element formed by superimposing an A film on a B film for broadening a usable wavelength band region using difference in wavelength dependency of a Faraday rotation coefficient between both the films A and B. The A film is made, by the LPE, from a Bi-substitution type rare earth-iron garnet single crystal not containing Co and the B film is made, by the LPE, from a rare earth-iron garnet single crystal containing Co.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.