FARADAY-EFFECT DISPERSION IN MULTILAYERED FE SIO2 FILMS/

Dispersion and field dependencies of the Faraday effect (FE) have been investigated in multilayered Fe/SiO2 films. Two series of samples wer e prepared by rf sputtering: in each series the Fe layers thickness we re constant at 10 and 15 angstrom and the SiO2 layers thickness was va ried in wide ranges from 1.5 to 90 angstrom. Strong changes of FE disp ersion depending on the thickness of SiO2 layers have been found in co mparison with bulk Fe or with homogeneous Fe films: while for monolaye red homogeneous Fe films (both 15 and 200 angstrom in thickness) a mon otonous increase of the FE has been observed with increasing wave leng th, similar to bulk Fe samples, for multilayered films the FE increase occurred when the wave length decreased. Therewith, the greater the S iO2 layer thickness (i.e., the less the volume Fc concentration in a s ample) the stronger was the difference between FE spectra of multilaye red and homogeneous films. The results arc discussed in terms of the F E theory in granular materials.