Magneto-optic effects in ferromagnetic films: Implications for spin devices |
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Authors: | CE Tanner T Williams ST Ruggiero S Potashnik CM Falco |
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Institution: | a Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, 225 Nieuwland Science Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556-5670, United States b Colorado School of Mines, 1500 Illinois Street, Golden, CO 80401, United States c Department of Physics, Penn State University, University Park, PA 16802, United States d Optical Sciences Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, United States |
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Abstract: | We present results on the magneto-optic properties of ferromagnetic films deposited on GaAs and SiO2 substrates. Using left- and right-circularly polarized light, we have measured the polarization-dependent photoresponse and reflectivity of Co/GaAs, Fe/GaAs and NiFe/GaAs Schottky diodes and the polarization-dependent reflection and transmission of NiFe/SiO2 and Co/SiO2 structures as a function of ferromagnetic film thickness, reported here in the range of 7.5-15 nm. Films were prepared by sputtering and molecular-beam epitaxy. Measurements were made in the presence of magnetic fields ranging from −1.2 to +1.2 T both parallel and perpendicular to the sample surface. We find maximum polarization-dependent transmission and photoresponse effects (with respect to left- versus right-circularly polarized light) of 2-4% in magnitude. Taken together the work suggests that magneto-optic effects intrinsic to the films, rather than spin injection across the ferromagnetic/semiconductor interface, are responsible for the observed phenomenology. The work has direct implications for the interpretation of results in ferromagnetic/semiconductor spintronic systems. |
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Keywords: | 78 20 Ls 72 25 Mk 78 66 Bz |
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