Enhanced Longitudinal Magnetooptic Kerr Effect Contrast in Nanomagnetic Structures

Author

Gibson, Ursula J. ; Holiday, Lindsay F. ; Allwood, Dan A. ; Basu, Swaraj ; Fry, Paul W.

Author_Institution

Thayer Sch. of Eng., Dartmouth Coll., Hanover, NH

Volume

43

Issue

6

fYear

2007

fDate

6/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2740

Lastpage

2742

Abstract

We report on enhanced longitudinal magnetooptic Kerr effect signal contrast in thin-film nanomagnetic disks with in-plane magnetization when combined with dielectric layers that provide impedance matching to the structure and the underlying substrate. Kerr signals can increase by a factor of three, while substrate reflectance is almost completely suppressed. This leads to an increase in Kerr ellipticity relative to the background intensity and a subsequent improvement in the measured signal-to-noise ratio. Measurements using a beam focused on opaque 400-nm Ni disks yield contrast improvements of a factor of 8. Arrays of nanodisks demonstrate more complex behavior due to diffraction effects

Keywords

Kerr magneto-optical effect; magnetic thin films; magnetisation; nanostructured materials; 400 nm; Ni; dielectric layers; diffraction effects; impedance matching; longitudinal magnetooptic Kerr effect; magnetization; nanomagnetic structure; signal-noise ratio; substrate reflectance; thin film nanomagnetic disks; Dielectric measurements; Dielectric substrates; Dielectric thin films; Impedance matching; Kerr effect; Magnetization; Magnetooptic effects; Nanostructures; Reflectivity; Signal to noise ratio; Antireflection films; dielectric coatings; magnetic nanostructures; magnetooptic Kerr effect (MOKE);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMAG.2007.894003

Filename

4202734