Influences of Y3Fe5O12 structure properties on magnetic proximity effect in Pt/Y3Fe5O12 Heterostructures

In recent years there has been a very strong interest in the magnetic proximity effect (MPE) in Pt/ Y₃Fe₅O₁₂ (YIG) heterostructures. In particular, whether the MPE exists in the Pt/YIG system or not directly affects the interpretations of a number of recent, important experimental observations in the Pt/YIG system. It is well accepted that X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) represents an effective technique for studying the MPE. The recent XMCD measurements, however, yielded rather controversial results on whether the MPE occurs in the Pt/YIG system [1-3]. With the aim of providing a theoretical insight on the recent experimental discrepancy, first-principle calculations were carried out to explore how YIG properties influence the MPE in a Pt/YIG bi-layered system. The calculations used density functional theory (DFT). The results show that the strength of the MPE not only strongly depends on the oxygen deficiency and the tetrahedral iron deficiency, but also differs significantly for different YIG crystalline orientations.