Large second-harmonic kerr rotation in GaFeO3 thin films on YSZ buffered silicon

Epitaxial thin films of gallium iron oxide (GaFeO3) are grown on (0 0 1) silicon by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) using yttrium-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) buffer layer. The crystalline template buffer layer is in situ PLD grown through the step of high-temperature stripping of the intrinsic silicon surface oxide. The X-ray diffraction pattern shows c-axis orientation of YSZ and b-axis orientation of GaFeO3 on Si (1 0 0) substrate. The ferromagnetic transition temperature (TC∼215K) is in good agreement with the bulk data. The films show a large nonlinear second harmonic Kerr rotation of ∼15° in the ferromagnetic state.