Enhanced magneto-optic Kerr rotation in epitaxial PtFe(001) and PtCo(001) thin films

Abstract

We observe changes in the magneto-optic Kerr rotations of Pt-Fe and Pt-Co alloys associated with the formation of the uniaxial CuAu(I) crystal structure. In particular, we report the observation of up to 60% enhancement at 2.0 eV in the magneto-optic Kerr rotation for the ordered, epitaxial PtFe intermetallic alloy over that of the random equiatomic face-centered-cubic alloy. This enhancement is wavelength dependent, with a peak in the visible at 2.0 eV. A similar enhancement, but of smaller magnitude, is observed for unoriented CuAu(I) PtFe0.5Co0.5.