232 research outputs found
Thickness dependence of linear and quadratic magneto-optical Kerr effect in ultrathin Fe(001) films
Magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) magnetometry is one of the most widely
employed techniques for the characterization of ferromagnetic thin-film
samples. Some information, such as coercive fields or anisotropy strengths can
be obtained without any knowledge of the optical and magneto-optical (MO)
properties of the material. On the other hand, a quantitative analysis, which
requires a precise knowledge of the material's index of refraction n and the MO
coupling constants K and G is often desirable, for instance for the comparison
of samples, which are different with respect to ferromagnetic layer
thicknesses, substrates, or capping layers. While the values of the parameters
n and the linear MO coupling parameter K reported by different authors usually
vary considerably, the relevant quadratic MO coupling parameters G of Fe are
completely unknown. Here, we report on measurements of the thickness dependence
(0-60nm) of the linear and quadratic MOKE in epitaxial bcc-Fe(001) wedge-type
samples performed at a commonly used laser wavelength of 670nm. By fitting the
thickness dependence we are able to extract a complete set of parameters n, K,
(G11 - G12), and G44 for the quantitative description of the MOKE of
bcc-Fe(001). We find sizable different n, K, and G parameters for films thinner
than about 10nm as compared to thicker films, which is indicative of a
thickness dependence of the electronic properties or of surface contributions
to the MOKE. The effect size of the quadratic MOKE is found to be about a third
of the record values recently reported for Co2FeSi.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
First Principles Calculation of Anomalous Hall Conductivity in Ferromagnetic bcc Fe
We perform a first principles calculation of the anomalous Hall effect in
ferromagnetic bcc Fe. Our theory identifies an intrinsic contribution to the
anomalous Hall conductivity and relates it to the k-space Berry phase of
occupied Bloch states. The theory is able to account for both dc and
magneto-optical Hall conductivities with no adjustable parameters.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, author list correcte
Investigation of the rise time and damping of spin excitations in Ni81Fe19 thin films
Copyright © 2001 American Institute of PhysicsThe rise and damping of spin excitations in three Ni81Fe19 films of thickness 50, 500, and 5000 Å have been studied with an optical pump–probe technique in which the sample is pumped with an optically triggered magnetic field pulse. The motion of the magnetization was described by the uniform mode solution of the Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation. The rise time of the pulsed field within the film was smallest in the 50 Å sample and was generally greater when the pulsed field was perpendicular to the film plane. The damping constant was smallest in the 500 Å sample. The variations in the rise time and damping are attributed to the presence of eddy currents and structural disorder in the films. Under certain excitation conditions a second mode was observed in the 5000 Å sample which we believe to be a magnetostatic surface mode
Spectral and Fermi surface properties from Wannier interpolation
We present an efficient first-principles approach for calculating Fermi
surface averages and spectral properties of solids, and use it to compute the
low-field Hall coefficient of several cubic metals and the magnetic circular
dichroism of iron. The first step is to perform a conventional first-principles
calculation and store the low-lying Bloch functions evaluated on a uniform grid
of k-points in the Brillouin zone. We then map those states onto a set of
maximally-localized Wannier functions, and evaluate the matrix elements of the
Hamiltonian and the other needed operators between the Wannier orbitals, thus
setting up an ``exact tight-binding model.'' In this compact representation the
k-space quantities are evaluated inexpensively using a generalized
Slater-Koster interpolation. Because of the strong localization of the Wannier
orbitals in real space, the smoothness and accuracy of the k-space
interpolation increases rapidly with the number of grid points originally used
to construct the Wannier functions. This allows k-space integrals to be
performed with ab-initio accuracy at low cost. In the Wannier representation,
band gradients, effective masses, and other k-derivatives needed for transport
and optical coefficients can be evaluated analytically, producing numerically
stable results even at band crossings and near weak avoided crossings.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure
Enhanced Magneto-Optical Edge Excitation in Nanoscale Magnetic Disks
We report unexpected enhancements of the magneto-optical effect in ferromagnetic Permalloy disks of diameter D < 400 nm. The effect becomes increasingly pronounced for smaller D, reaching more than a 100% enhancement for D ¼ 100 nm samples. By means of experiments and simulations, the origin of this effect is identified as a nanoscale ring-shaped region at the disk edges, in which the magneto-optically induced electric polarization is enhanced. This leads to a modification of the electromagnetic near fields and causes the enhanced magneto-optical excitation, independent from any optical resonance.We acknowledge funding from the Basque Government
(Program No. PI2012-47) and the Spanish Government
(Project No.MAT2012-36844).Work at the Universidad de
Cantabria has been supported by MICINN under Project
No. FIS2013-45854-P
Faraday rotation spectra of bismuth-substituted ferrite garnet films with in-plane magnetization
Single crystalline films of bismuth-substituted ferrite garnets have been
synthesized by the liquid phase epitaxy method where GGG substrates are dipped
into the flux. The growth parameters are controlled to obtain films with
in-plane magnetization and virtually no domain activity, which makes them
excellently suited for magnetooptic imaging. The Faraday rotation spectra were
measured across the visible range of wavelengths. To interprete the spectra we
present a simple model based on the existence of two optical transitions of
diamagnetic character, one tetrahedral and one octahedral. We find excellent
agreement between the model and our experimental results for photon energies
between 1.77 and 2.53 eV, corresponding to wavelengths between 700 and 490 nm.
It is shown that the Faraday rotation changes significantly with the amount of
substituted gallium and bismuth. Furthermore, the experimental results suggest
that the magnetooptic response changes linearly with the bismuth substitution.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, published in Phys. Rev.
Optical and magneto-optical investigation on electronic structure of ordered ferromagnetic Fe3Pt
The optical and magneto-opticalproperties of ordered Fe3Pt have been investigated by spectroscopicellipsometry and magneto-opticalKerrspectroscopy. The diagonal component of the optical conductivity tensor of the compound exhibits a broad absorption peak at about 2 eV, which is shifted by about 0.5 eV to lower energies from the corresponding one in pure bcc Fe. The Kerr angle spectrum of the compound disperses quite similarly in both spectral trend and magnitude to that of pure Fe below 3.5 eV but differently above it. The lower-energy shift of the 2-eV-absorption structure of the compound is interpreted as due to the shift of the minority-spin Fe-d states toward EF through the hybridization with Pt-d states. The Kerr effect of the compound is attributable to a large spin-orbit coupling in Pt as well as the well-hybridized spin-polarized bands.The following article appeared in Journal of Applied Physics 89 (2001): 244, and may be found at doi:10.1063/1.1331064 .</p
A consistent interpretation of the magneto-optical spectra of spinel type ferrites (invited)
Polarizability and magnetoplasmonic properties of magnetic general nanoellipsoids
An approach to compute the polarizability tensor of magnetic nanoparticles having general ellipsoidal shape is presented. We find a surprisingly excellent quantitative agreement between calculated and experimental magneto-optical spectra measured in the polar Kerr configuration from nickel nanodisks of large size (exceeding 100 nm) with circular and elliptical shape. In spite of its approximations and simplicity, the formalism presented here captures the essential physics of the interplay between magneto-optical activity and the plasmonic resonance of the individual particle. The results highlight the key role of the dynamic depolarization effects to account for the magneto-optical properties of plasmonic nanostructures
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