 High-quality yttrium iron garnet, YIG, thin films have been grown on gadolinium gallium garnet, GGG, substrates using pulsed laser deposition, exhibiting low-coercivity, near-bulk room temperature saturation moments, in plain easy axis, and damping parameters as low as 2.2 x 10-4, making them useful for investigating novel magnetic phenomena and magnetization dynamics. This article was authored by M. C. on Bassley, Akelberger, D. H. Kim, and others.