Scaling between in-Plane Magnetization Components in v-MOKE Magnetometry.

F. BONETTO; C. J. BONIN

Encuentro; Autumm Meeting of the Brazilian Physical Society; 2020

Sociedade Brazileira de Fisica

Magneto-Optic Kerr Eect (MOKE) is one of the most suitable techniquesto study supercial magnetization phenomena due to its limited material pen-etration ( 20 nm for most of metals). It is widely used in nanomagnetismfor its considerable surface sensitivity and relatively simple assemble and op-eration. The technique is able to sense both, changes in the orientation ofelectric eld polarization plane, and light intensity variations of a monochro-matic linearly polarized beam after being reected by a magnetized surfacematerial. Briey, the magnetization alters the dielectric tensor of the sample,making it optically anisotropic and hence, modifying the reection propertiesof the surface. In a previous work a new method was introduced to quantita-tively and simultaneously measure the two magnetization components parallelto the plane of the lm (v-MOKE). Even when this method is accurate andeasy to implement, it presents the disadvantage that it is necessary to rotatethe electromagnet. Depending on its dimension and weight, implementing thistask could be, in practice, complex or directly unfeasible. Here, we introducean alternative method aimed to quantitatively compare the two magnetizationcomponents parallel to the sample lm in v-MOKE experiments. The proposalpresents the advantage of a x electromagnet (as well as all other componentsof the experimental setup), which might be very convenient for most v-MOKEdevices. Consequently, the proposed procedure allows acquiring simultaneouslyand quantitatively both in-plane magnetization components with a xed exper-imental arrangement. Two lms, FePt 9 and 100 nm thickness, were used assample probes, presenting in-plane magnetic uniaxial anisotropy and in-planemagnetic isotropy, respectively. All experiments were carried out at room tem-perature by employing a home-made MOKE system.