COMPLEX OPTICAL-CONSTANTS AND MAGNETOOPTIC KERR-EFFECT OF CO AL/CO SANDWICHES/

The effective complex optical constants and the magneto-optical Kerr e ffect (MOKE) were measured for sputtered Co/Al/Co sandwiches. The four effective dielectric tensor elements were evaluated. It was found tha t the Kerr rotation and the Kerr ellipticity depend on both the real a nd imaginary parts of the effective off-diagonal element of the dielec tric tensor and the variation of the complex MOKE with changing the th ickness of the Al spacer was due not only to the variation of the effe ctive off-diagonal element but also to the variation of the effective optical constants. Large variations of the effective optical constants of the sandwiches were observed.