Cubic magneto-optic Kerr effect in Ni(111) thin films with and without twinning

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Gaerner, Maik, Silber, Robin, Peters, Tobias, Hamrle, Jaroslav, Kuschel, Timo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2022
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author Gaerner, Maik
Silber, Robin
Peters, Tobias
Hamrle, Jaroslav
Kuschel, Timo
author_facet Gaerner, Maik
Silber, Robin
Peters, Tobias
Hamrle, Jaroslav
Kuschel, Timo
contents In most studies utilizing the magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE), the detected change of polarized light upon reflection from a magnetized sample is supposed to be proportional to the magnetization $\boldsymbol{M}$. However, MOKE signatures quadratic in $\boldsymbol{M}$ have also been identified and utilized, e.g., to sense the structural order in Heusler compounds, to detect spin-orbit torques or to image antiferromagnetic domains. In our study, we observe a strong anisotropic MOKE contribution of third order in $\boldsymbol{M}$ in Ni(111) thin films, attributed to a cubic magneto-optic tensor $\propto $ $\boldsymbol{M}^3$. We further show that the angular dependence of cubic MOKE (CMOKE) is affected by the amount of structural domain twinning in the sample. Our detailed study on CMOKE for two selected photon energies will open up new opportunities for CMOKE applications with sensitivity to twinning properties of thin films, e.g. CMOKE spectroscopy and microscopy or time-resolved CMOKE.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2205_08298
institution arXiv
publishDate 2022
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Cubic magneto-optic Kerr effect in Ni(111) thin films with and without twinning
Gaerner, Maik
Silber, Robin
Peters, Tobias
Hamrle, Jaroslav
Kuschel, Timo
Optics
Materials Science
In most studies utilizing the magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE), the detected change of polarized light upon reflection from a magnetized sample is supposed to be proportional to the magnetization $\boldsymbol{M}$. However, MOKE signatures quadratic in $\boldsymbol{M}$ have also been identified and utilized, e.g., to sense the structural order in Heusler compounds, to detect spin-orbit torques or to image antiferromagnetic domains. In our study, we observe a strong anisotropic MOKE contribution of third order in $\boldsymbol{M}$ in Ni(111) thin films, attributed to a cubic magneto-optic tensor $\propto $ $\boldsymbol{M}^3$. We further show that the angular dependence of cubic MOKE (CMOKE) is affected by the amount of structural domain twinning in the sample. Our detailed study on CMOKE for two selected photon energies will open up new opportunities for CMOKE applications with sensitivity to twinning properties of thin films, e.g. CMOKE spectroscopy and microscopy or time-resolved CMOKE.
title Cubic magneto-optic Kerr effect in Ni(111) thin films with and without twinning
topic Optics
Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.08298