SPECTROSCOPIC KERR INVESTIGATIONS OF CONI PT MULTILAYERS/

CoxNi1-x/Pt multilayers with x=0.4 and 0.5 were sputtered onto Si subs trates. Magnetic and spectroscopic magneto-optic measurements (1.4-5.2 eV) reveal a Kerr rotation up to -0.48 degrees at about 4.5 eV for a sample with rectangular hysteresis loop, about 170 kA/m coercivity, an d a Curie temperature of about 300 degrees C. Pt layers could be made extremely thin (2.9 Angstrom) without loss of perpendicular anisotropy and rectangular hysteresis loop. Simulations show that the Kerr rotat ion peak shifts back from 4.5 to 3.9 eV with increasing number of bila yers. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.