Magneto-optical Kerr effect of Mn/Sb multilayer ferromagnetic films on GaAs substrate

Mn/Sb multilayer films were grown on (100) GaAs substrate by an ultrahigh v acuum evaporation system and were annealed for a short time. The magnetic a nd magneto-optical properties were investigated for the samples unannealed and annealed, respectively. All unannealed Mn/Sb multilayer films exhibit s trong ferromagnetic properties and the easy magnetization axes are in-plane . The surface of the samples consists of dense islands. The longitudinal (H // plane) Kerr effect was not observed for the unannealed samples. All sam ples annealed at 350 degreesC for 20min were found to be single phase with nickel arsenide (NiAs) crystal structure and have the largest saturation ma gnetization M-s and the lowest coercive force H-c. The magnetic force micro scope image shows uniform ferromagnetic properties of the film. The longitu dinal magneto-optical Kerr effect was observed. The observable Kerr effect hysteresis loop can be obtained for the annealed Mn/Sb multilayer films on GaAs.