Magneto-optic enhancement and magnetic properties in Fe antidot films with hexagonal symmetry

The magneto-optic and magnetic properties of hexagonal arrays of holes in optically thin iron films are presented. We analyze their dependence on the hole radius and compare the results to a continuous iron film of the same thickness. We observe a large enhancement of the magneto-optic Kerr rotation...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Papaioannou, E. Th., Kapaklis, Vassilios, Patoka, Piotr, Giersig, Michael, Fumagalli, Paul, García-Martín, Antonio, Ferreiro-Vila, Elías, Ctistis, Georgios
Format: article
Publication Date:2010
Country:España
Institution:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repository:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/25484
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/25484
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Magneto-optic
Arrays of holes
Surface-plasmon
Description
Summary:The magneto-optic and magnetic properties of hexagonal arrays of holes in optically thin iron films are presented. We analyze their dependence on the hole radius and compare the results to a continuous iron film of the same thickness. We observe a large enhancement of the magneto-optic Kerr rotation with respect to that of the continuous film, at frequencies where surface-plasmon excitations are expected. The spectral position of the Kerr maxima can be tuned by the size and the distance between the holes. Additional simulations are in very good agreement with the experiment and thus confirm the effect of the surface plasmons on the Kerr rotation. The altering of the magnetic properties by the hole array is also visible in the hysteretic behavior of the sample where a significant hardening is observed.