MOSSBAUER STUDY OF LASER-ANNEALED Tb-Fe FILMS FOR MAGNETO-OPTIC RECORDING

Mossbauer spectroscopy and magneto-optical (MO) studies of thin amorphous TbxFe100-x films (11‹x‹34 at.%), subjected to the pulsed laser annealing, were carried out. The TbFe films (160 nm thick) were RF-sputtered onto glass substrates; both sides of the films were passivated with SiN layers (85 nm). Both Mossbauer and MO measurements confirmed that in the successively annealed films spontaneous magnetization is well aligned along the film surface. The evolutions of hyperfine field distribution at 57Fe and MO data reveal that the laser annealing results in the atomic ordering of TbFe alloys. The crystalline phase of α-Fe appears in the Fe-rich films subjected to laser annealing.