Diffracted magneto-optical Kerr effect in one-dimensional magnetic gratings

Abstract

One-dimensional Co2MnSi magnetic gratings were fabricated with a significant ease by using the interference pattern of two femtosecond-laser beams which resulted in a selective-area annealing of the as-deposited Co2MnSi film. The longitudinal Kerr rotation of the negative first-order diffracted beam was nearly 30 times larger than that of the zeroth-order one in a sample fabricated with the optimal conditions. The enhancement strongly depends on the grating depth, which varies with the number of laser shots, confirming the theoretical result that the magneto-optical Kerr-effect enhancement is reduced as the grating depth increases.