The magneto-optic Kerr effect can probe the process of magnetization reversal in ferromagnetic thin films and can, thus, be used as an alternative to magnetometry. is wavelength-dependent rotation reverse sign, vanishing at particular wavelengths. We investigate epitaxial heterostructures manganite, La 0.7 Sr 0.3 Mn 0.9 Ru 0.1 O 3 , by using polar manganite layers are separated or interfaced wi...

Time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr spectroscopy of ferromagnetic InMnAs reveals two distinct demagnetization processes--fast (<1 ps) and slow (approximately 100 ps). Both components diminish with increasing temperature and are absent above the Curie temperature. The fast component rapidly grows with pump power and saturates at high fluences (>10 mJ/cm(2)); the saturation value indicates a compl...

Magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) spectroscopy in the -1st diffraction order with p-polarized incidence is applied to study arrays of submicron Permalloy wires at polar magnetization. A theoretical approach combining two methods, the local modes method neglecting the edge effects of wires and the rigorous coupled wave analysis, is derived to evaluate the diffraction losses due to irregularitie...

We show that the onion-to-vortex switching field in dense arrays of nanostructured ferromagnetic rings is strongly dependent on the angle between the applied magnetic field and the array’s main axis. The variations in switching field of up to 8 mT are connected to the anisotropy produced by dipolar interactions between domain walls in the rings. The interactions stabilize the onion state in ali...

We investigate the bilinear and biquadratic interlayer exchange coupling in Co/Fe/MgO/Fe(001). Samples are grown through molecular beam epitaxy and the interlayer exchange coupling is measured through magneto-optic Kerr effect along wedge samples. By varying the location of Fe impurities between the interface and middle of the MgO spacer, we find that the couplings are enhanced and are dependen...

It is demonstrated that it is possible to image magnetic domains with a resolution of better than 60 nm with the Kerr effect in a reflection-mode scanning near-field optical microscope. Images taken of tracks of thermomagnetically prewritten bits in a Co/Pt multilayer structure magnetized out-of plane showed optical features in a track pattern whose appearance was determined by the position of ...

The growth and interface magnetic properties of epitaxial Fe films grown on InAs (100)-4 2 have been studied using low-energy electron diffraction, in situ magneto-optical Kerr effect, and X-ray magnetic circular dichronism. The magnetic properties at room temperature were found to proceed via three phases with thickness; a nonmagnetic phase, a superparamagnetic phase, and a ferromagnetic phase...

Ultrafast spin dynamics in ferromagnetic half-metallic compound Sr2FeMoO6 is investigated by pump-probe measurements of the magneto-optical Kerr effect. The half-metallic nature of this material gives rise to anomalous thermal insulation between spins and electrons and allows us to pursue the spin dynamics from a few to several hundred picoseconds after the optical excitation. The optically det...

We investigate the effect of Ho, Dy, Tb, and Gd impurities on the femtosecond laser-induced magnetization dynamics of thin Permalloy films using the time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect. Varying the amount of Ho, Dy, Tb content from 0% to 8%, we observe a gradual change of the characteristic demagnetization time constant from approximately 60 to approximately 150 fs. In contrast, Gd concen...

We investigate the growth and magnetic properties of submonolayer Fe wedges on a stepped Pd~110! substrate with reflection high-energy electron diffraction ~RHEED! and the surface magneto-optic Kerr effect. RHEED suggests that Fe atoms decorate the steps to form nanostripes. These stripes are ferromagnetic above 0.3 monolayer Fe coverage, or ;6 Å average stripe width, and have a magnetic easy a...