Alteration of MCD Spectra Due to thin film Interference Effects

Abstract

ABSTRACTMCD spectra at the M2,3 edge of thin Fe films exhibit thickness-dependent variations in line shape as well as in the absolute MCD-effect. Our data indicate that more information is contained in the MCD spectra than simply the evolution of a magnetic moment and ferromagnetic order. We developed a model to predict line shape modulations as a function of film thickness and angle of light incidence. Using the Fresnel-Maxwell formalism we calculate interference effects between left and right circularly polarized light reflected from the vacuum-film-substrate interfaces which are verified by our MCD measurements. Since the observed interference effects are a function of the excitation wavelength, our results can be directly scaled to show the significance of these effects in the more commonly used L2,3 region of 3d ferromagnets. Our data point out that one might be ill advised to rely onL2,3 MCD experiments to try to extract the formation of magnetic moments in films of several 10s of Å in thickness.