Magneto-optical and optical spectroscopic ellipsometries of La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 thin films

Magneto-optical (MO) spectroscopy combined with spectroscopic ellipsometry has been used to learn about the electronic transitions in La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 (LSMO) film pulse laser deposited onto SrTiO3 (100) substrates. The dispersion function of LSMO films was parametrized by the sum of three damped Lorentz oscillators and adjusted together with the film thickness numerically. With the knowledge of film optical properties the off-diagonal elements of the LSMO permittivity tensor (magneto-optical constants) were calculated from the complex polar Kerr effect measured on the thickest (60 nm) LSMO film (considered as optically thick). The considered approximation as well as the reliability of the obtained optical and MO constants was verified by the consistence of the calculated and experimental MO spectra for the thinner LSMO films (where the propagation effect plays an important role). The resolved electronic transition centered at about 4 eV features the spectral dependences of diagonal and off-diagonal elements of LSMO permittivity in the studied spectral range. In the molecular orbital picture this could be assigned to the charge transfer electronic transition from the O 2p states to the Mn 3d t(2g) states, split by the spin-orbit interaction. (C) 2006 American Institute of Physics.