Magnetic second harmonic generation at the Co2MnSi/AlOx interface

We have studied magnetic second harmonic generation (MSHG) at the Co2MnSi/AlOx interface. The variation of the MSHG intensity was consistent with the nonvanishing components of the nonlinear susceptibility tensor expected for the (001) cubic surface. The difference in the MSHG asymmetry, the MSHG anisotropy, is found to have maximum value at an annealing temperature of 450 degrees C, for which similar samples have previously been found to show optimum L2(1) site ordering and maximum tunnel magnetoresistance. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.