Damping Enhancement in YIG at Millikelvin Temperatures due to GGG Substrate

Abstract: Quantum magnonics aims to exploit the quantum mechanical properties of magnons for nanoscale quantum information technologies. Ferrimagnetic yttrium iron garnet (YIG), which offers the longest magnon lifetimes, is a key material typically grown on gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) substrates for structural compatibility. However, the increased magnetic damping in YIG/GGG systems below 50$\,$K poses a challenge for quantum applications. Here, we study the damping in a 97$\,$nm-thick YIG film on a 500$\,\mu$m-thick GGG substrate at temperatures down to 30$\,$mK using ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) spectroscopy. We show that the dominant physical mechanism for the observed tenfold increase in FMR linewidth at millikelvin temperatures is the non-uniform bias magnetic field generated by the partially magnetized paramagnetic GGG substrate. Numerical simulations and analytical theory show that the GGG-driven linewidth enhancement can reach up to 6.7 times. In addition, at low temperatures and frequencies above 18$\,$GHz, the FMR linewidth deviates from the viscous Gilbert-damping model. These results allow the partial elimination of the damping mechanisms attributed to GGG, which is necessary for the advancement of solid-state quantum technologies.