Magneto-Optical Materials for Photonics and Recording

Researchers come together in this book, first published in 2005, to highlight advances in the fabrication of magneto-optical materials and their integration into various platforms, which continue to open up new avenues for the development of integrated magneto-photonic devices and magnetic recording media. One subject receiving significant attention is magnetic photonic crystals. Results on the superprism effect, and three-dimensional magnetophotonic crystals based on synthetic opals, are featured. A theoretical model for slowing down light in artificial magnetoelectric media is introduced. By fabricating multilayer thin-film stacks of magnetic materials, coupled either by means of their magnetostatic or exchange interactions, storage densities can now be substantially increased. Another avenue for increased storage density is heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). A clever design of exchange-coupled ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic materials is proposed as a HAMR medium that can satisfy both thermal stability and recordability requirements. In addition, experimental results demonstrate that ferromagnetic resonance frequency will not limit the switching rates at elevated temperatures and GHz data rates for HAMR media should be possible.