The magneto-optical properties of thin cobalt films

Abstract Experimentally measured magneto-optical properties of magnetic materials are usually analysed using a phenomenological approach in which the permittivity is considered as a skew-symmetric tensor. Measurements of the real and imaginary parts of both the optical and the magneto-optical elements of this sensor in the region 1.0–2.5 eV are presented for a series of seven thin (108-13.4 nm) cobalt films. The prominent features of the results are remarkably consistent from film to film.