LPE growth of (NdGdBi)3Fe5O12 films with high FOM and high LIDTs at a wavelength of around 1 μm

(NdGdBi)3Fe5O12 mono-crystalline films with high magneto-optical figure of merit (FOM) and high laser-induced damage thresholds (LIDTs) at a wavelength of around 1 μm have been grown in this study. Crystal structure, phase composition, magneto-optical (MO) properties and LIDTs of the grown (NdGdBi)3Fe5O12 films were discussed in detail. Tested results show that (NdGdBi)3Fe5O12 films exhibit a low insertion loss of 0.5 dB, a high FOM of 78.7 deg/dB and a high LIDTs of 9.12 J/cm2 at 1.06 μm wavelength. Lattice constant and dopants are two key factors to determine FOM and LIDTs of Bi-doped iron garnet films grown by liquid-phase epitaxial method. The excellent MO properties and LIDTs indicate that (NdGdBi)3Fe5O12 films grown in this study have a great potential to be used in 1–1.1 μm high-power lasers.