Enhancement of the Magneto-Optical Kerr Rotation at Short Wavelength in Sputtered Ag/TbFeCo Bilayer Films

The magneto-optical Kerr rotation is enhanced at short wavelengths in sputtered Ag/TbFeCo bilayer films in which Ag not only acts as a protecting layer against the oxidation of TbFeCo, but also induces the enhancement of the magneto-optical Kerr rotation at short wavelengths. The enhancement of the Kerr rotation of Ag/TbFeCo bilayer films is not mainly due to the low optical constant of Ag near its plasma absorption edge and the interference effect occurring at the interface between Ag and TbFeCo, but due to the polarization of Ag d electrons caused by the ferromagnetic TbFeCo layer, which causes the off-diagonal elements of dielectric constant tensor of Ag/TbFeCo to be greatly increased.