Large enhancement of elastic light scattering due to random fluctuations of the magnetization
- Optical Sciences Center and Arizona Research Laboratories, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 (United States)
We have observed the field dependence and enhancement of the intensity of polarized elastic light scattering, from ultrathin magnetic films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA). High-resolution Brillouin spectroscopy elucidates that this enhancement reaches its maximum at a critical field (H{sub crit}) where the magnetization starts to incline toward out-of-plane due to the strong PMA. We attribute this new effect to the microscopic instability due to random fluctuations of the magnetization near H{sub crit}, since this elastic scattering has no frequency shift from the excitation light and thus the correlation of each spin decays monotonically. The enhancement factor depends on the PMA strength as well as the film thickness, and we obtain an enhancement as large as a factor of 20 at room temperature with a low external field of 0.18 kOe. (c) 2000 American Institute of Physics.
- OSTI ID:
- 20216237
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 87; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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