Abstract
Quantum magnonics leverages the quantum properties of magnons to advance nanoscale quantum information technologies. Ferrimagnetic yttrium iron garnet (YIG), valued for its exceptionally low magnetic damping, is typically grown as thin films on gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) for lattice matching. However, paramagnetic GGG introduces additional damping at low temperatures due to substrate magnetization, limiting quantum applications. Here, we study magnetic damping in a 150 nm-thick YIG film grown on yttrium scandium gallium aluminum garnet (YSGAG), a newly developed diamagnetic alternative to GGG. Ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy down to 30 mK reveals that YIG/YSGAG maintains low damping from room temperature to millikelvin temperatures, with a room-temperature Gilbert damping of 4.29 × 10−5, comparable to state-of-the-art YIG/GGG films and bulk YIG. Crucially, no low-temperature damping increase is observed. By eliminating paramagnetic substrate-induced dissipation, YSGAG enables consistently low damping in YIG films across the entire temperature range, establishing it as an ideal substrate for quantum magnonics and paving the way for spin-wave-based quantum technologies.
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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This research was funded in part by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) project Paramagnonics [10.55776/I6568]. The work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR) under the reference numbers (13N17108, 13N17109, and 13N17110) within a collaborative project “Low-loss materials for integrated magnonic-superconducting quantum technologies (MagSQuant)”. M.U. acknowledges the support of the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, project no. 23-04120L. Microstructuring of the sample was done at CzechNanoLab Research Infrastructure supported by MEYS CR (LM2023051). B.A. acknowledges support by COST Action Polytopo CA23134 (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). C.D. thanks Oleksii Surzhenko for room temperature magnetic measurements and R. Meyer (INNOVENT e.V.) for technical support. R.O.S., B.A., D.S., and A.V.C. thank Adam Krysztofik for fabricating and providing the YIG/YAG sample used in this work.
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R.O.S. conducted the FMR. measurements on YIG/YSGAG and YIG/GGG, processed and analyzed the data, and authored the initial draft of the manuscript. C.D. initiated the development of substrate crystal growth, planned the epitaxial film growth, and synthesized the YIG films. C.G. developed the YSGAG substrate crystals. B.A. maintained the experimental setup, supported the measurements, and data analysis. D.S. maintained the experimental setup, supported the experimental measurements, and conducted FMR measurements on YIG/YAG. J.S. carried out measurements and further evaluation to determine the magnetic susceptibilities. J.P. microstructured the YIG films. M.W., P.P., and M.U. supported the data interpretation. A.V.C. planned the experiment and led the project. All authors discussed results and contributed to the manuscript.
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Communications Materials thanks Haoliang Liu and Lichuan Jin for their contribution to the peer review of this work. A peer review file is available.
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Serha, R.O., Dubs, C., Guguschev, C. et al. The ideal substrate for yttrium iron garnet films in quantum magnonics. Commun Mater (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-026-01146-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-026-01146-5
