Temperature and layer-thickness dependencies of Kerr rotation in Dy/Co multilayers

Amorphous Dy/Co multilayers with the individual layer thickness between 4 and 10 Å in steps of 0.5 to 1 Å were studied systematically over the temperature range 100–300 K. The Kerr rotation increases as temperature decreases, or as Co content increases and the coercivity increases both in the low temperature region and in the vicinity of the compensation point. These characteristics were analyzed in terms of simple models of the magnetic structure and magnetization reversal.