Absence of spin-mixed states in ferrimagnet Yttrium iron garnet

Abstract

The spectroscopic g-factor of epitaxial thin film Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG) has been studied using a combination of ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. The values obtained by the two techniques are found, within experimental error, to be in agreement using Kittel's original derivation for the g-factor. For an insulating material with an entirely Fe3+ configuration, a spin mixing correction to Kittel's derivation of the spectroscopic g-factor, as recently shown by Shaw et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 207201 (2021)] for metallic systems, is not required and demonstrates that the spin mixing parameter is small in YIG due to negligible spin–orbit coupling.