Structural, magnetic, and spectroscopic magneto-optical properties aspects of Pt-Co multilayers with intentionally alloyed layers

Polycrystalline Pt-Co multilayers with intentionally alloyed layers were grown by e-beam evaporation on polyimide, Si, and glass substrates. X-ray diffraction spectra show that the multilayered structure of the samples degrades as compared to conventional Pt-Co multilayers. This degradation depends on the compositional variation of the intentionally alloyed layers. Magnetometry measurements reveal enhanced magnetization values for all samples, exceeding even by 90% the one of bulk Co, at a temperature of 10 K. This is attributed to both Pt-induced and enhanced Co magnetic moments, according to x-ray magnetic circular dichroism experiments. Spectroscopic magneto-optic measurements reveal large negative polar Kerr rotation maxima at photon energies between 4 and 4.4 eV due to the intense magneto-optic response of spin-polarized Pt. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.