Measurement of Kerr rotation and ellipticity in magnetic thin films by MOKE magnetometry
Name
063901_1_5.0185341.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.32 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
5b260512575b6d8c03648682b9a53c05
Author(s)
Suzuki, Daniel H
Beach, Geoffrey SD
Date Issued
February 8, 2024
Journal
Journal of Applied Physics
Publisher
AIP Publishing
Citation
Daniel H. Suzuki, Geoffrey S. D. Beach; Measurement of Kerr rotation and ellipticity in magnetic thin films by MOKE magnetometry. J. Appl. Phys. 14 February 2024; 135 (6): 063901.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
When polarized light is incident on a magnetic material, the magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) rotates the polarization and induces ellipticity in the reflected light, which allows the magnetization direction to be probed optically. The Kerr rotation and ellipticity determine the magnitude of the effect and are usually measured using dedicated ellipsometers. Here, we demonstrate a simple method for extracting Kerr rotation and ellipticity in magnetic thin films using a conventional MOKE magnetometer consisting of two polarizers and a quarter waveplate. Using this technique, we report the longitudinal Kerr angle of BiYIG, GdCo, and TbCo. We additionally observe a linear decrease in polar complex Kerr angle magnitude in 3 nm GdCo films as the atomic fraction of Gd is increased.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
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Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0185341
