A study on magnetic and magneto-optical properties of PdMn/Co multilayers

Co/Pd1-xMnx multilayers with Mn concentration x = 0 to 20.8% have been sputtered on a glass substrate with 40 nm thick Pd or PdMn buffer. With the combination of small- and large-angle x-ray analyes, the crystal structure of the samples were investigated. Hysteresis loop and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) were measured by means of an alternating-gradient magnetometer and magnetic torque. Domain structure was observed by magnetic force microscopy. Saturation magnetization, PMA and the Kerr rotation spectrum of the samples were investigated. It is shown that the change of Kerr rotation with the increase of Mn concentration in Pd could be ascribed to the variation of diagonal and off-diagonal elements of the dielectric tensor.