Enhancement in Curie Temperature of Yttrium Iron Garnet by Doping with Neodymium.

The effect of the substitution of Y by Nd on the structural and magnetic properties of neodymium-doped yttrium iron garnet, NdYFe₅O with in the range of 0⁻2.5, is presented. Oxide powders of Fe₂O₃, Nd₂O₃, and Y₂O₃ were mixed in a stoichiometric ratio and milled for 5 h using high-energy ball milling, before being uniaxially pressed at 900 MPa and annealed at 1373 K for 2 h to obtain NdYFe₅O (0 ≤ ≤ 2.5). It was found that the mechanical milling of oxides followed by annealing promotes the complete structural formation of the garnet structure. Additionally, the X-ray diffraction patterns confirm the complete introduction of Nd into the garnet structure with a neodymium doping concentration () of 0⁻2.0, which causes a consistent increment in the lattice parameters with the Nd content. When is higher than 2.0, the yttrium orthoferrite is the predominant phase. Besides, the magnetic results reveal an increase in the Curie temperature (583 K) as the amount of Nd increases, while there was enhanced saturation magnetization as well as modified remanence and coercivity with respect to non-doped YIG.