skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: A method for eliminating Faraday rotation in cryostat windows in longitudinal magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements

Journal Article · · Review of Scientific Instruments
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4890825· OSTI ID:22308670
;  [1]
  1. Institute of Informatics, University of Bialystok, Sosnowa 64, PL-15-887 Bialystok (Poland)

A solution to the problem of disturbing effect of the background Faraday rotation in the cryostat windows on longitudinal magneto-optical Kerr effect (LMOKE) measured under vacuum conditions and/or at low temperatures is proposed. The method for eliminating the influence of Faraday rotation in cryostat windows is based on special arrangement of additional mirrors placed on sample holder. In this arrangement, the orientation of the cryostat window is perpendicular to the light beam direction and parallel to an external magnetic field generated by the H-frame electromagnet. The operation of the LMOKE magnetometer with the special sample holder based on polarization modulation technique with a photo-elastic modulator is theoretically analyzed with the use of Jones matrices, and formulas for evaluating of the actual Kerr rotation and ellipticity of the sample are derived. The feasibility of the method and good performance of the magnetometer is experimentally demonstrated for the LMOKE effect measured in Fe/Au multilayer structures. The influence of imperfect alignment of the magnetometer setup on the Kerr angles, as derived theoretically through the analytic model and verified experimentally, is examined and discussed.

OSTI ID:
22308670
Journal Information:
Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 85, Issue 7; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0034-6748
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English