Optimization of the TMOKE response using the ATR configuration

The transverse magneto-optical Kerr effect (TMOKE) was investigated on multilayers of Au/Co/Au at the attenuated total reflection configuration (ATR), where light was incident upon the film from a glass prism ( n=1.45). For a Co layer of thickness t Co=5 nm, experimental and theoretical results of the TMOKE response for λ=670 nm showed that the highest amplitude of the effect is achieved when the Au layer, which is adjacent to Co and air is absent. Since the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is highly damped in Co, this result suggests that the excitation of SPR is not a necessary condition to produce an important TMOKE response. Numerical simulations of the TMOKE spectra as a function of the angle of incidence and the thickness of the layers have also shown that, when the sum of the thickness of the two Au layers is held constant at 30 nm, the structures which yield the highest TMOKE amplitudes have the thickness of the Co layer in the range 10< d Co(nm)