Effect of Phase Transformations of a Metal Component on the Magneto-Optical Properties of Thin-Films Nanocomposites (CoFeZr)x (MgF2)100−x

The results of complex studies of structural-phase transformations and magneto-optical properties of nanocomposites (CoFeZr)x (MgF2)100−x depending on the metal alloy content in the dielectric matrix are presented. Nanocomposites were deposited by ion-beam sputtering onto glass and glass-ceramic substrate. By studying the spectral and field dependences of the transversal Kerr effect (TKE), it was found that the transition of nanocomposites from superparamagnetic to the ferromagnetic state occurs in the region of xfm~30 at%, that corresponds to the onset the formation of ferromagnetic nanocrystals CoFeZr with hexagonal syngony in amorphous dielectric matrix of MgF2. With an increase of concentrations of the metal alloy for x > xfm, the features associated with structural transitions in magnetic granules are revealed in the TKE spectra. Comparison of the spectral and concentration dependences of TKE for nanocomposites on the glass and glass-ceramics substrates showed that the strongest differences occur in the region of the phase structural transition of CoFeZr nanocrystals from a hexagonal to a body-centered cubic structure at x = 38 at.% on the glass substrates and at x = 46 at.% on glass-ceramics substrates, due to different diffusion rates and different size of metal nanocrystals on amorphous glass substrates and more rough polycrystalline glass-ceramics substrates.