HIGHLY SENSITIVE MAGNETOOPTIC TRANSVERSE KERR-EFFECT MEASUREMENT SYSTEM FOR THE DETECTION OF PERPENDICULAR ANISOTROPY AND MAGNETIC PHASES IN THIN-FILMS

Transverse biased initial susceptibility (TBIS) measurements were made using a magneto-optical Kerr effect system on samples that exhibited an in-plane and a perpendicular anisotropy. A change in the slope of b oth the inverse transverse susceptibility and the hysteresis loop is o bserved at a certain value of the applied in-plane field H-s. At value s of the applied field higher than H-s the magnetization lies in the p lane of the film; at values lower than H-s an out-of-plane component a ppears. By performing TBIS measurements we can also detect different m icromagnetic phases magnetically uncoupled with different values of th e anisotropy field. The occurrence of a downwards curvature in the inv erse susceptibility when the de held is applied along the hard axis to gether with the multiple minima when the de field is applied along the easy axis can be explained by the existence of weakly coupled microma gnetic phases. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.