Magnetooptics of single and microresonator iron-garnet films at low temperatures

•Magnetooptics of microresonator iron-garnet films is studied at low-temperatures.•Phenomenon of the temperature hysteresis is found and explained for several samples.•Hysteresis near compensation points gives additional data about sample composition.•Hysteresis for samples on garnet substrate show bursts due to formed transition layer.

We have investigated the low-temperature behavior of the optical and magneto-optical properties of (Bi, Gd, Al)-substituted yttrium iron-garnet films that are either single or microresonator, i.e. sandwiched between two dielectric Bragg mirrors. It was shown that the magneto-optical properties of the microresonators with a magnetic film core are mainly determined by the properties of the constituent magnetic films. Special attention was paid to the compositions possessing magnetic compensation temperatures. The phenomenon of the temperature hysteresis was found and discussed for several samples. This testifies the fact that the magnetic moment reorientation in a magnetic field occurs by the full cycle of the first-order phase transitions “collinear phase – non-collinear phase – collinear phase”. The Faraday hysteresis curves at around magnetic compensation temperatures are demonstrated to be very informative concerning composition of a sample. In particular, the hysteresis curves measured for the magnetic films on the garnet substrates showed bursts that indicates formation of a transition layer.