November 13th, 1997: Soft X-ray Magneto-Optics Workshop

Transverse Magneto-Optical Kerr Effect of Fe at the 2p Excitation Threshold

Dieter Knabben, B. Raab, Th. Koop, F.U. Hillebrecht, E. Kisker, and G.Y. Guo1

Institut für Angewandte Physik, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Universitätsstraße 1, 40225 Düsseldorf;
1) Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington WA4 4 AD, UK.

The transverse magneto-optical Kerr effect (T-MOKE) was investigated for thin epitaxial Fe films grown on Ag(001) in the region of the 2p excitation threshold. The experimental reflectivity and asymmetry spectra are compared to those derived from the complex dielectric function tensor calculated by using the first-principles spin-polarized relativistic band theory. We found that the T-MOKE asymmetry in general is a mixture of both the real and imaginary parts of the off-diagonal element of the dielectric function tensor, depending sensitively on the relative magnitudes between the real and imaginary parts of the diagonal elements. This makes in most cases determination of magnetic moments more complicated than using other methods such as magnetic circular dichroism in x-ray absorption. We also found that for larger incidence angles, the influence of the Ag-substrate is significant. The experimental and calculated reflectivity spectra are in reasonable agreement.

E-Mail: knabben@schulzeundschultze.anphy.uni-duesseldorf.de

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11.10.97, Volker Solinus