Magneto-optical coupling in ferromagnetic thin films investigated by VMOGE


Magneto-optical coupling in ferromagnetic thin films investigated by VMOGE

Mok, K. M.; Scarlat, C.; Kovacs, G. J.; Li, L.; Zviagin, V.; McCord, J.; Helm, M.; Schmidt, H.

We investigated the magneto-optical coupling in ferromagnetic thin films (Fe, Ni20Fe80, Co, Ni80Fe20, Ni) in the spectral range from 300 to 1100 nm. We performed Mueller matrix ellipsometry measurements in a magnetic field of arbitrary orientation and magnitude up to 400 mT at room temperature with a set-up vector-magneto-optical generalized ellipsometer (VMOGE). We extracted the magneto-optical dielectric tensor of the ferromagnetic thin films under saturated in-plane magnetization conditions. The off-diagonal elements of the magneto-optical dielectric tensor depend on the net spin polarization and the electronic band structure of the magnetized material. For ferromagnetic Fe, Co, and Ni, the converted magneto-optical dielectric tensor agrees well with reported experimental optical conductivity data. With additional measurements on the magnetization of the ferromagnetic thin films, we extracted the magnetic field independent magneto-optical coupling constant Q, which is a useful parameter for characterization of magneto-optical materials.
Reference: K. Mok et al., Phys. Rev. B 84, 094413 (2011)

Keywords: Mueller matrix; generalized ellipsometry; ferromagnet

  • Lecture (Conference)
    DPG Frühjahrstagung der Sektion Kondensierte Materie (SKM), 25.-30.03.2012, Berlin, Germany
  • Lecture (Conference)
    7th Workshop Ellipsometry, 05.-07.03.2012, Leipzig, Germany

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Publ.-Id: 16367