STRUCTURAL AND SPECTROSCOPIC MAGNETOOPTIC STUDIES OF PT-NI MULTILAYERS

Pt-m-Ni-n multilayers were grown by e-beam evaporation under ultrahigh vacuum; lit and n will depict the number of atomic planes of the corr esponding constituents in one modulation period and, in this work, the y were varied between 1 and 14. X-ray diffraction and conventional ele ctron microscopy experiments revealed a fee polycrystalline structure with excellent modulation. Magneto-optic properties, studied at room t emperature between 1.5 and 5.2 eV, were found to depend strongly on bo th m and n. Perpendicular anisotropy was exhibited for samples with th in Ni layers and, unexpectedly, for thicker Ni layers when Pt layers b ecame considerably thin (m similar to 2). Comparison of the magneto-op tic features of two similar samples grown on glass and polyimide revea led that the choice between glass and polyimide does not affect magnet o-optic properties. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.