We report a combined experimental-computational investigation of the electronic structure of CrO2. We have measured the magneto-optical Kerr spectra of CrO2 at 10 K and 300 K. At 10 K the Kerr signal is significantly enhanced over that obtained at 300 K. We compare the measured Kerr spectra to first-principles theoretical spectra, which we computed using three different approximations to the ex...

Nonlinear magneto-optics is a very sensitive fingerprint of the electronic, magnetic, and atomic structure of surfaces, interfaces, and thin ferromagnetic films. Analyzing theoretically the nonlinear magneto-optical Kerr effect for thin films of Fe(001) and at Fe surfaces we demonstrate exemplarily how various electronic material properties of ferromagnets , such as the d-band width, the magnet...

Magnetic and magneto-optical properties were measured at room temperature in the Mn-diffused surface layer of a CdGeP2 single crystal. The magnetization curve measured using VSM clearly shows a ferromagnetic hysteresis loop with Hc=0.4 kOe superposed on the diamagnetic component. The ferromagnetic Curie temperature was determined as 320 K from the magnetization vs. temperature curve. The magnet...

We extend our previous study of the polarization dependence of the nonlinear optical response to the case of magnetic surfaces and buried magnetic interfaces. We calculate for the longitudinal and polar configuration the nonlinear magneto-optical Kerr rotation angle. In particular, we show which tensor elements of the susceptibilities are involved in the enhancement of the Kerr rotation in nonl...

We report an experimental study on optical and magneto-optical properties of Cesubstituted yttrium iron garnet thin films incorporating gold nanoparticles. Au nanoparticles were formed by heating Au thin film on cubic quartz and garnet substrate in vacuum chamber and a Ce:YIG layer was deposited on them by the aid of Pulsed laser deposition method. A large enhancement of the longitudinal Kerr e...

Ultrashort pulses of extreme ultraviolet light from high-harmonic generation are a new tool for probing coupled charge, spin, and phonon dynamics with element specificity, attosecond pump-probe synchronization, and time resolution of a few femtoseconds in a tabletop apparatus. In this paper, we address an important question in magneto-optics that has implications for understanding magnetism on ...

Simplified analytic expressions are derived for the optical propagation matrix of magnetic anisotropic Kerr media using the Lagrange–Sylvester interpolation polynomial. This expression is used to investigate magnetic Kerr films in Fabry–Pérot configurations, magneto-optic recording quadrilayers and alternating periodic stacks. It is found that the magneto-optic reflection coefficients are enhan...

Topological insulators can exhibit strong magneto-electric effects when their time-reversal symmetry is broken. In this Letter we consider the magneto-optical Kerr and Faraday effects of a topological insulator thin film weakly exchange coupled to a ferromagnet. We find that its Faraday rotation has a universal value at low frequencies θF=tan(-1)α, where α is the vacuum fine structure constant,...

In magneto-optic systems, Kerr and Faraday effects bring into play reflection and transmission matrices. Considering planar multilayer systems, we show that the elements of the reflection and transmission matrices obey general and simple relations valid whatever the geometry of the magneto-optic device may be. 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.