Measurement of Faraday rotation in single-crystal nickel films

Abstract

Measurements are reported of the rotation of the plane of polarized light (λ = 546 nm) on passing through films of nickel. Measurements have been made on monocrystalline films, grown by epitaxy. The structures of the films have been examined and it is found that, even with films showing a high degree of crystallographic orientation, spurious results may be obtained owing to the discontinuous nature of such films. Conditions are established for the preparation of continuous single-crystal films and the magnitude of the Faraday effect in these films for light travelling in the <100>, <110> and <111> directions, has been determined. The films are prepared by thermal evaporation at a pressure of ~ 10 -5 mm Hg. The values obtained for the specific rotations in the directions <100>, <110> and <111> are, respectively, 79 000, 88 000 and 97 000 degrees per centim etre.