Study of the magnetic anisotropy of a TbFe2 [111] thin film by MOKE

We report on a magnetic anisotropy study of a single crystal TbFe2 (1 1 1) thin film by magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE). The Al2O3/Mo (50 nm)/TbFe2 (24 nm)/Mo (2 mn)/YNi2, system is elaborated by pulsed laser deposition. L arge strains are induced by the epitaxy and as this compound shows a giant magnetostriction, they play an important role in the magnetic anisotropy. T he anisotropy energy calculations are compared with the MOKE measurements i n longitudinal configuration. In order to reach saturation along the hard [ 1 1 1] axis we used a novel MOKE set-up under a pulsed magnetic held up to 30 T. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.