Enhanced Kerr rotation in electrodeposited nickel films

Author

Attenborough, Karen ; De Boeck, Jo ; Celis, Jean-Pierre ; Mizuguchi, Masaki ; Akinaga, Hiroyuki

Author_Institution

Dept. MTM, Katholieke Univ., Leuven, Belgium

Volume

35

Issue

5

fYear

1999

fDate

9/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2985

Lastpage

2987

Abstract

High quality nickel films were electrodeposited directly onto n-GaAs using galvanostatic control. It was seen that by varying the current density the crystallographic orientation of the films could be controlled. For a current density of 15 mA/cm², a highly dominant (220) crystallographic orientation was obtained. Magnetic measurements revealed a strong uniaxial anisotropy in these films. Moreover, Kerr spectroscopy measurements (1.4 to 4.5 eV) showed an enhanced Kerr rotation of -0.17° at 3.2 eV, which may be attributed to the strong magnetic anisotropy and the exceptional crystal quality of the films

Keywords

Kerr magneto-optical effect; crystal orientation; current density; electrodeposits; magnetic anisotropy; magnetic thin films; nickel; semiconductor-metal boundaries; (220) crystallographic orientation; GaAs; Kerr spectroscopy; Ni; crystal quality; crystallographic orientation; current density; electrodeposited nickel films; enhanced Kerr rotation; galvanostatic control; n-GaAs; strong magnetic anisotropy; uniaxial anisotropy; Electrodes; Gallium arsenide; Magnetic anisotropy; Magnetic films; Magnetic materials; Nickel; Optical films; Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy; Semiconductor films; Spectroscopy;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.801055

Filename

801055