Influence of structural defects and crystallite size on physical properties of Yb3Fe5O12

This paper was the first to present the results of studying the influence of structural defects on the physical properties of pre-synthesized ytterbium iron garnet (YbIG). The concentration and type of structural defects were controlled by mechanically activating the powders using Bridgman anvils. Using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD), it was revealed that the particle morphology, the unit cell parameters, mean size of the coherent scattering regions ( D ) and microstrains ( Δ d / d ) vary in a wide range. Using optical spectroscopy, XRD and FTIR to study the dynamic properties of the crystal lattice, showing that the bandgap and force constants of dodecahedral-coordinated ytterbium (Yb–O) d and octahedral-coordinated iron (Fe–O) o change non-monotonically with decreasing crystallite size. By analyzing the dependence of the magnetic hysteresis loop M ( H ) on the crystallite size D , it was concluded that there was a critical crystallite size ( D crit = 75 nm) of YbIG, at which the coercive force H c has a maximum value. For the first time, changes in g-factor and the half-width Δ H of the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of nanoscale crystallites were found to be correlated with the parameters of the magnetic hysteresis loop M ( H ) .