Soft x-ray magneto-optical Kerr effect (invited) (abstract)

Journal Article · Sun May 15 00:00:00 EDT 1994 · Journal of Applied Physics; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.355575· OSTI ID:7072864

Kao, C C ^[1]; Chen, C T ^[2]; Johnson, E D ^[1]; Idzerda, Y U ^[3]; Hastings, J B ^[1]

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1. National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973 (United States)
2. AT T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974 (United States)
3. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375 (United States)

Recently, there has been a great deal of interest in x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) and its applications to the study of magnetic thin films and multilayers due to the dramatically enhanced dichroic effect and its element specific nature. In this work, the soft x-ray magneto-optical Kerr effect, an effect closely related to MCD, is investigated. Detailed comparison between MCD and the Kerr effect is discussed. As an example, recent results from a thin bcc Co film will be presented. In the Kerr effect measurement, specular reflectivity as a function of incident angle and photon energy was measured using both linearly polarized and circularly polarized x rays. To give the largest effect, in the case of linearly polarized light, specular reflectivity was measured in the transverse configuration, while in the case of circularly polarized light, the measurement was carried out in the longitudinal configuration. In both cases very large changes in reflectivity, up to 40% in the linearly polarized case and 75% in the circularly polarized case, were observed near the Co [ital L][sub II] and [ital L][sub III] absorption edges upon reversal of the direction of the magnetic field. These results agree very well with a macroscopic model calculation.

• OSTI ID: 7072864
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics; (United States) Vol. 75:10; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360104* -- Metals & Alloys-- Physical Properties
BCC LATTICES
COBALT
CRYSTAL LATTICES
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
CUBIC LATTICES
DICHROISM
DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTS
FILMS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
KERR EFFECT
MAGNETIC CIRCULAR DICHROISM
MAGNETO-OPTICAL EFFECTS
METALS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATIONS
REFLECTIVITY
SOFT X RADIATION
SURFACE PROPERTIES
THIN FILMS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
X RADIATION