PERPENDICULAR MAGNETIC ANISOTROPY AND MAGNETO-OPTICAL KEER PROPERTIES OF Co/(Pd-Au) METALLIC MULTILAYERS

Abstract

We prepared Co/(Pd-Au) multi layers onto a glass substrates by rf magnetron sputtering at room temperature. Co/(Pd-Au) multi layers exhibit a magnetic easy axis perpendicular to the film plane up to a larger magnetic layer thickness than ColPd multilayer. Especially, Co/(Pd o. 7o Au 0 .3J multi layers became perpendicular at 33A. The magnetic anisotropy can be explained by the strain effect. The role of magnetoelastic energy due to the in-plane strain in the system is pointed out and discussed. We also investigated the magneto-optical(MO) polar Kerr effect of these multilayers. The polar Kerr rotation angle qk increases when the Au concentration is 4.5at% compared to ColPd multilayers, but decreases with increasing Au content.