PROBING STRUCTURE AND MAGNETISM OF CONI PT INTERFACES BY NONLINEAR MAGNETOOPTICS/

Magnetic CoNi/Pt interfaces are studied as a function of their prepara tion conditions,by magnetization-induced second-harmonic generation (M SHG) measurements. A detailed method has been developed to decompose t he total MSHG response into magnetic and crystallographic: contributio ns for each interface. Although the bulk magnetism of the CoNi film (3 nm thick) shows only a subtle dependence on the sputtering Ar pressur e, the interfaces appear to be dramatically affected. It can be shown that the crystallographic part probes the increase in the interface ro ughness while the magnetic one clearly reveals a maximum in the in-pla ne magnetization of the interface. (C) 1998 American Institute of Phys ics.