Äquatorialer und polarer magnetooptischer Kerreffekt an Eisen, Kobalt und Nickel im nahen Ultrarot

Abstract

Thick layers of iron, cobalt and nickel were evaporated on glas-substrates in a vacuum of 2 · 10⁻⁷ Torr. The thickness of the layers was about 95 to 200 nm. The dispersion of the optical constants, the dispersion of rotation and ellipticity of the polar magnetooptic Kerreffect at normal incidence, and the dispersion of the ellipticity of the equatorial magnetooptic Kerreffect at two different angles of incidence were measured in the range of frequencies from 400 to 2,000 nm in the magnetically saturated state. The measurements of the equatorial effect are compared with those calculated from the polar effect according to Voigt. There arise discrepancies which are larger than the error of measurement. These differences prove, that it is insufficient only to consider the interaction of the light wave with the electron orbits like in Voigt's theory; in a uniform description of all magnetooptic effects the influence of the spins has to be regarded, too. It is possible to separate the “electric” and the “magnetic” contribution of the interaction of light. Both parts are of the same order of magnitude.