Decoupled polar magneto-optical (MO) Kerr enhancement multilayer structure

A systematic method for designing polar Kerr enhancement multilayer structu re is proposed to obtain the largest Kerr rotation, zero Kerr ellipticity a nd pre-determined reflectance simultaneously. By introducing the so-called 'decoupling layer', the design of reflectance, the enhancement of polar Ker r rotation and the realization of linear polarization can be carried out in dependently. As an example, this method is applied to the design of the pol ar Kerr enhancement multilayer structure of BiGaDyIG. At lambda = 500 nm, f or reflectance R = 0.1 and 0.3, the gain function G as high as 99.4% of the theoretical maximum is achieved with a zero ellipticity. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.