Magnetic and magneto-optic properties of thick face-centered-cubic Co single-crystal films

Abstract

The present letter describes for the first time the magnetic and magneto-optical properties of thick fcc cobalt single-crystal films (≂1000-Å thickness). The magneto-crystalline anisotropy constants K1 and K2 are about −7.2×10 erg/cc and 2×10 erg/cc at 77 K, respectively. Both decrease in magnitude with increasing temperature in a range from 77 K to about 450 K. The easy axis is found to be 〈111〉. The polar Kerr angle for the fcc phase is much larger than that of the hcp phase by 0.1°–0.2° in a photon energy range from about 1 to 5 eV.