Ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic Fe/NiO (100) interface studied by non-linear Kerr effect

In this work, the magnetic properties of the Fe/NiO (1 0 0) interface at room temperature is investigated using non-linear magnetooptical Kerr effect. Nickel oxide is a promising material for technological applications due to its Neel temperature (525 K) occurring well above the room temperature. Non-linear Kerr rotation measurements have demonstrated to be an effective way to investigate a ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic interface. The measurements here reported demonstrate that the magnetic properties of the studied interface strongly depend on the Fe layer thickness. In fact, a clear hysteresis loop is observed only for a thickness higher than 5 ML, whereas for the 2 NIL sample the hysteresis loop completely disappears. These results are in agreement with previous structural characterizations of the interface. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.