A note on the Faraday rotation in Bi/sup 3+/-substituted magnetic garnets

摘要

The large Faraday rotation (FR) in the visible wavelength region in Bi-substituted magnetic garnets is explained by using a model with two main features: 1) The /spl pi/-type charge transfer (CT) transitions appearing at the absorption edge contribute to the FR. 2) The spin-orbit interaction of 2p electrons in the CT states is enhanced by mixing of 6p orbitals of bismuth. The FR at T=0 K predicted by this model reproduces well the overall features of the observed FR spectra.