Linear and quadratic magneto-optical Kerr effect investigation of Co2Mn1.30Si0.84 epitaxially grown on MgO

• Published in: Solid state communications 2017-01, Vol.250, p.31-34
• Main Authors: Liu, Jihong, Qiao, Shuang, Wang, Shufang, Fu, Guangsheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Half-metal; Heusler alloy; Magnetic anisotropy; Quadratic magneto-optical Kerr effect
• ISSN: 0038-1098; 1879-2766
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ssc.2016.10.016

We investigated the magneto-optical properties of a L21 ordered nonstoichiometric Co2Mn1.30Si0.84 film epitaxially grown on a MgO-buffered MgO (001) single-crystal substrate. Longitudinal magneto-optical Kerr effects (LMOKE) and rotating magneto-optical Kerr effect (ROT-MOKE) measurements suggest that the film exhibits a cubic magnetic anisotropy with the extracted cubic anisotropy constant of KC=6.7×104erg/cm3. Orientation-dependent ROT-MOKE suggest that the quadratic magneto-optical Kerr effects (QMOKE) components also show fourfold symmetry with a modest amplitude of 3 mdeg, which is in accordance with complex Kerr angle expression for cubic symmetry systems. Our results suggest that ROT-MOKE is not only an efficient method to determine magnetic anisotropy parameters but also a good method to extract QMOKE components. •A L21 ordered nonstoichiometric Co2Mn1.30Si0.84 film was prepared.•The film exhibits a cubic magnetic anisotropy with KC=6.7×104erg/cm3.•Orientation-dependent ROT-MOKE can be used to get QMOKE components.•QMOKE components show fourfold symmetry with a modest amplitude of 3 mdeg.