Optical and magneto-optical properties of Fe/Cu multilayered films: Influence of the modulation period and the bcc-fcc phase transition in iron

The optical and magneto-optical properties of multilayered film samples of the Fe/Cu system prepared by high-frequency sputtering on an Si(100) substrate are studied by ellipsometry and by measuring the equatorial Kerr effect (the δp effect) in the spectral range 0.25–7 μm. The optical characteristics, the plasma frequency ωp and the relaxation frequency γ0 of the conduction electrons, and the δp effect are found as functions of the modulation period D=12.5–100 Å. Anomalous behavior of the optical and magneto-optical characteristics is discovered in short-period Fe/Cu structures. The results are discussed within a phenomenological theory of optical and magneto-optical properties for layered structures. Several factors, such as the indirect exchange interaction between the iron layers, the presence of a transition layer on the internal boundaries, the possible “magnetizing” of copper, and the formation of an fcc iron phase in the thin layers, are taken into account in the analysis of the experimental data.