The difference in the transmission for left and right circularly polarised light though thin films on substrates in a magnetic field is used to obtain the magnetic circular dichroism of the film. However there are reflections at all the interfaces an
d these are also different for the two polarisations and generate the polar Kerr signal. In this paper the contribution to the differences to the total transmission from the transmission across interfaces as well as the differences in absorption in the film and the substrate are calculated. This gives a guide to when it is necessary to evaluate these corrections in order to obtain the real MCD from a measure of the differential transmission due to differential absorption in the film.
This paper has a pedagogical introduction. We describe the correct method for performing Monte Carlo simulations of Ising model systems with spin greater than one half. Correct and incorrect procedures are clearly outlined and the consequences of usi
ng the incorrect procedure are shown. The difference between Kawasaki and Glauber dynamics is then outlined and both methods are applied to the antiferromagnetic square and triangular lattices for S =1.
The effects of strain on a film of mulitferroic GdMnO3 are investigated using both magnetometry and magneto-optic spectroscopy. Optical spectra, in the energy range 1.5eV - 3.5eV, were taken in Faraday geometry in an applied magnetic field and also a
t remanence. This yielded rich information on the effects of strain on the spin ordering in these films. Epitaxial films of GdMnO3 were grown on SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 substrates. The LaAlO3 was twinned and so produced a highly strained film whereas the strain was less for the film grown on SrTiO3. The Neel temperatures and coercive fields were measured using zero field data and hysteresis loops obtained using a SQUID magnetometer. Optical absorption data agreed with earlier work on bulk materials. The two well known features in the optical spectrum, the charge transfer transition between Mn d states at ~2eV and the band edge transition from the oxygen p band to the d states at ~3eV are observed in the magnetic circular dichroism; however they behaved very differently both as a function of magnetic field and temperature. This is interpreted in terms of the magnetic ordering of the Mn spins.
Films of oxides doped with transition metals are frequently believed to have magnetic inclusions. Magnetic methods to determine the amount of nanophases and their magnetic characteristics are described. The amount of the sample that is paramagnetic m
ay also be measured. Optical methods are described and shown to be very powerful to determine which defects are also magnetic.
Landau theory is used to investigate the behaviour of a metallic magnet driven towards a quantum critical point by the application of pressure. The observed dependence of the transition temperature with pressure is used to show that the coupling of t
he magnetic order to the lattice diverges as the quantum critical point is approached. This means that a first order transition will occur in magnets (both ferromagnets and antiferromagnets) because of the coupling to the lattice. The Landau equations are solved numerically without further approximations. There are other mechanisms that can cause a first order transition so the significance of this work is that it will enable us to determine the extent to which any particular first order transition is driven by coupling to the lattice or if other causes are responsible.
Multilayer films of ZnO with Co were deposited on glass substrates then annealed in a vacuum. The magnetisation of the films increased with annealing but not the magnitude of the magneto-optical signals. The dielectric functions for the films were ca
lculated using the MCD spectra. A Maxwell Garnett theory of a metallic Co/ZnO mixture is presented. The extent to which this explains the MCD spectra taken on the films is discussed.
Room temperature ferromagnetism was observed in n-type Fe-doped In2O3 thin films deposited on c-cut sapphire substrates by pulsed laser deposition. Structure, magnetism, composition, and transport studies indicated that Fe occupied the In sites of th
e In2O3 lattice rather than formed any metallic Fe or other magnetic impurity phases. Magnetic moments of films were proved to be intrinsic and showed to have a strong dependence on the carrier densities which depended on the Fe concentration and its valance state as well as oxygen pressure.
Magneto optic measurements are a very powerful tool for investigating the polarization of a conduction band as a function of temperature and are used here to study the polarization of the mobile electrons in 50nm LSMO (x=0.3) strained thin films grow
n epitaxially on single crystalline (001) LaAlO3 (LAO) and (001) lattice matched substrate (LSAT). The magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) has been investigated in magnetic fields up to 0.5 T and over a temperature range (10 to 450 K). The MCD spectra of both the films show a peak at the band gap at around 3 eV and the peak is found to be shifted towards lower energy side with the increase of temperature. A separate polaron peak (well known in insulating samples) appears at lower energy (about 1.8 eV) with the increase of temperature in all these metallic films. The rapid decrease in conduction band polarization in the film on LAO has strong implications for the use of these manganites in room temperature spintronics.
A quantum critical point is approached by applying pressure in a number of magnetic metals. The observed dependence of Tc on pressure necessarily means that the magnetic energy is coupled to the lattice. A first order phase transition occurs if this
coupling exceeds a critical value: this is inevitable if diverges as Tc approaches zero. It is argued that this is the cause of the first order transition that is observed in many systems. Using Landau theory we obtain expressions for the boundaries of the region where phase separation occurs that agree well with experiments done on MnSi and other materials. The theory can be used to obtain very approximate values for the temperature and pressure at the tricritical point in terms of quantities measured at ambient pressure and the measured values of along the second order line. The values of the tricritical temperature for various materials obtained from Landau theory are too low but it is shown that the predicted values will rise if the effects of fluctuations are included.
