Magneto-optic channel waveguides in Ce-substituted yttrium iron garnet

This article describes the demonstration of magneto-optic channel waveguides in Ce-substituted yttrium iron garnet which has a very large Faraday rotation. The rib waveguides are successfully produced by employing a new etching technique, which is a reactive ion etching method using BCl3 gas. The nonreciprocal phase shift in the magneto-optic waveguides is measured by using a new improved measurement method. These waveguides exhibit the largest nonreciprocal phase shift ever reported of 21.1 rad/cm (λ=1.55 μm).