Electronic and topological parameters of the skin layer in amorphous metallic ribbons after thermal annealing

Data on spectral polarimetric measurements in the range of 0.05–0.60 eV are presented, along with calculations on the optical characteristics of the surface layers of ribbons of the amorphous alloy Co₅₉Fe₅Ni₁₀Si₁₁B₁₅ before and after thermal annealing in order to determine how the composition of the surface layer changes during this treatment. It is shown that after annealing at a temperature of 425°C or above, the optical conductivity and the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant revert to the values for typical metals in the IR. This treatment produces microregions with an ordered structure in the surface layer. The experimental data show that for ribbons annealed at T = 475°C the spectral optical characteristics do not obey the Drude relations and behave similarly to their amorphous analogs.