Ab-initio study for the correlation effect on the magneto-optical properties of Co-based full Heusler alloys

Magneto-optical (MO) properties of ferromagnetic Co₂YGe full-Heusler alloys (Y = Fe and Mn) are investigated by the first principles electronic structure calculations using the highly accurate FLAPW method within GGA + U approach. The polar magneto-optical Kerr angles are calculated by solving Kubo's linear response formula using the FLAPW eigenstates and eigenfunctions to obtain the optical conductivity by interband transitions. The typical features of polar Kerr rotation of transition metals with two major peaks were obtained while the low energy spectra are enhanced largely at 1-2 eV region compared to GGA results. Detailed electronic structures analysis revealed that this enhancement is due to the decreased interband transitions by reduced diagonal optical conductivity. Results indicate that the MO spectra can be used to determine the appropriate correlation level for the present alloys.     

Estimation of thermal conductivity of magneto-optic media

We describe a method to estimate the thermal conductivity of the substrate, the dielectric layer, and the magneto-optic (MO) layer of MO recording media. The method relies on the disappearance of the polar Kerr rotation above the Curie temperature of the MO layer. We obtain the thermal conductivities by taking into account the differences in the heat diffusion behavior under different sized focused spots. The results are reliable to better than 5% accuracy.     

Optimization of Magneto-Optical Kerr Effect in Cu/Fe/Cu Nano-structure

We use an analytical approach to describe the optical response of a magnetoplasmonic structure upon surface plasmon polariton (SPP) excitation in glass/Cu/Fe/Cu multilayer. The proposed structure is based on Kretschmann prism couplers, Fe layer as magneto-optical (MO) medium, and Cu layer as plasmonic metal layer, to enhance the MO effects thanks to the resonant excitation of surface plasmons. The influence of constituent layer thicknesses and layer order is investigated to obtain the maximum MO Kerr signal and figure of merit (FOM) in polar geometry. In addition, we show a range of parameters to determine the maximum Kerr rotation accompanied by minimum Kerr ellipticity which is desirable for data storage applications. Results demonstrate the important role of film thicknesses and incidence angle distribution on resonant excitation of surface plasmons.     

Magneto-optical disk drive technology using multiple fiber-coupled flying optical heads. Part I. System design and performance

A novel flying-optical-head data storage technology is described. It is based on a micro-optical recording head that contains a silicon micromachined torsional mirror for high-bandwidth track following. Multiple heads and disks are contained in a Winchester-style rotating disk drive. Single-mode optical fibers provide light delivery to and from the heads. Both polarization-maintaining and low-birefringence fiber systems have been implemented for magneto-optical (MO) recording. A fixed optics module containing a laser diode, MO detection optics, and a 1 x N fiber bundle switch has been developed as an integral part of this new recording architecture. A 5.25-in. (13.33-cm), half-height prototype drive design and its performance are presented.     

Analysis and Reduction of Ultrasonic Pitting Defects on Hard Disk Surfaces

It has become of paramount importance to be able to perform failure analysis of defects on hard disk surfaces quickly and accurately. In this study, ultrasonic pitting defects on hard disk surfaces were investigated. A new electrical tagging pattern system, which directly translated the channel bits to magnetic transitions during writing of the magnetic pattern around a defect, was used in the failure analysis of magnetic recording disks to mark defective sectors. With the help of the Kerr magneto-effect, the defective sectors were effectively located for further failure analysis. Results of the failure analysis revealed that there was 30% to 40% loss of the recorded magnetic bit signal due to an increase in the gap between a recording head and a hard disk surface with ultrasonic pitting defects. The experiments performed indicated that low ultrasonic power for disk cleaning could reduce the ultrasonic pitting defects significantly. The maximum failure rate due to single-type ultrasonic pitting defects was reduced from 33.4% to 16.7%, while the maximum failure rate due to cluster-type ultrasonic pitting defects was reduced from 11.1% to 5%.     

Room temperature magneto-optics of nanostructured ZnO:Mn thin film grown by spray pyrolysis

Undoped ZnO and ZnO:Mn thin films with different amounts of Mn concentration (5, 10 and 15 mol%) were grown on glass substrates by spray pyrolysis technique. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that the undoped ZnO thin film exhibited wurtzite structure preferably oriented in c-axis direction and the doped samples were polycrystalline. The surface morphology and topography of the films were investigated by SEM and STM micrographs. Magneto-optical characterizations of the samples were carried out by using Kerr and Faraday effects spectroscopy. Kerr effect studies showed that all Mn doped thin films exhibited the room temperature ferromagnetism. The magnetic ordering observed in the film with 5 mol% Mn concentration was stronger comparing to the other doped samples. The carrier densities of the samples were calculated by using a method based on the Faraday rotation. A clear relation between sp-d coupling and strength of magnetic ordering with carrier density was observed.     

Intensity, polarization, and phase information in optical disk systems

Digital information in optical data storage systems can be encoded in the intensity, in the polarization state, or in the phase of a carrier laser beam. Intensity modulation is achieved at the surface of the storage medium either through destructive interference from surface-relief features (e.g., CD or DVD pits) or through reflectivity variations (e.g., alteration of optical constants of phase-change media). Magneto-optical materials make use of the polar magneto-optical Kerr effect to produce polarization modulations of the focused beam reflected from the storage medium. Both surface-relief structures and material-property variations can create, at the exit pupil of the objective lens of the optical pickup, a phase modulation (this, in addition to any intensity or polarization modulation or both). Current optical data storage systems do not make use of this phase information, whose recovery could potentially increase the strength of the readout signal. We show how all three mechanisms can be exploited in a scanning optical microscope to reconstruct the recorded (or embedded) data patterns on various types of optical disk.     

Mixed magnetooptical contrast induced by an inhomogeneous magnetic field in metal films with planar anisotropy

Magnetooptical (MO) images induced by a strongly inhomogeneous external magnetic field in magnetic metal films with planar anisotropy have been studied. In the polar Kerr effect geometry, MO images created by the normal magnetization component is observed. In the meridional Kerr effect geometry, a superposition of the MO images (mixed MO contrast) is observed, which is determined by the distribution of the normal and horizontal magnetization components. Calculation of distribution of magnetization in a film is carried out, a field of magnetic system corresponding to coordinate dependence and are simulated corresponding MO images and the corresponding MO images have been simulated, which demonstrate satisfactory agreement between the theory and experiment.     

Influence of Heterogeneous Magnetism on Magneto-Optical Properties

The influence of inhomogeneity on magnetic materials is considered; in particular, we examine how it affects the magneto-optical (MO) response of films and multilayers. From ab initio calculations of the band structure, the optical conductivity tensor is derived, providing the basis for computing the MO spectra. The presence of magnetic nanoprecipitates is taken into account by modeling the system as an effective medium or as an infinitely thin layered structure. A possible depth concentration distribution of the magnetic species is also accounted for, by considering the structure as a sequence of layers. This formalism is applied to some real systems constituted by magnetic particles dispersed in a hosting nonmagnetic matrix. The agreement between theoretical and measured MO Kerr effect spectra supports the validity of the model and establishes its predictive power, suggesting that the analysis of experimental MO spectra can provide information not only on the magnetic, but also on the structural properties of heterogeneous magnetic systems.     

Enhanced magneto-optical effects in magnetoplasmonic crystals

Plasmonics allows light to be localized on length scales much shorter than its wavelength, which makes it possible to integrate photonics and electronics on the nanoscale. Magneto-optical materials are appealing for applications in plasmonics because they open up the possibility of using external magnetic fields in plasmonic devices. Here, we fabricate a new magneto-optical material, a magnetoplasmonic crystal, that consists of a nanostructured noble-metal film on top of a ferromagnetic dielectric, and we demonstrate an enhanced Kerr effect with this material. Such magnetoplasmonic crystals could have applications in telecommunications, magnetic field sensing and all-optical magnetic data storage.     

A scanning laser microscope system to observe static and dynamicmagnetic domain behavior

Scanning laser microscopes (SLMs) have been used to characterize the magnetic properties of materials for some time. The first SLM built was a purely static system capable of imaging magnetic domains. Dynamic capability was introduced with the development of the R-Theta microscope. However, this microscope utilizes a rotating drive. A scanning laser microscope has been designed to observe the dynamic behavior of domain switching during the thermomagnetic write process and the subsequent magnetization state (domain orientation) in stationary media, without the requirement for a rotating drive. It may also be used to write to the magneto-optic (MO) disk material thermomagnetically prior to imaging. Images are derived from the longitudinal and polar magneto-optic Kerr effects. In this paper, the different configurations for imaging are described and some initial images are presented     

Automated optical mass storage system with 3-beam magneto-opticaldisk drives

An automated optical mass storage system (optical MSS) with high-speed magnetooptical (MO) disk drives has been developed. It features a high data transfer rate for writing with the use of the 130-mm ISO standard MO disk, and disk cartridges with high storage efficiency. As the key device, a high-speed MO disk drive has been developed. It provides a high-speed data writing capability of about ten times that of conventional MO disk drives. The optical MSS provides a data transfer rate for reading and writing of 2.1 MB/s, a storage capacity of 250 GB to 1 TB, and an average cartridge handling time of 5 s. From performance simulations, the optical MSS is proved to be applicable to a low-traffic random-access file that stores multimedia data and a high-speed direct-access storage device (DASD) backup file     

新一代磁光材料及器件研究进展

磁光材料是典型的多功能材料,其应用频率覆盖了射频、微波、毫米波、THz波和光波段,是一类优秀的全波段材料.首先对磁光材料发展的动态进行了分析;其次就磁光材料应用于磁光盘、光纤通信器件、THz器件等进行了讨论;最后,对作者课题组的一些新的研究工作做了介绍,以期能对这一领域的发展起到促进作用.     

Design of a manufacturable discrete track recording medium

The potential benefits of patterning discrete tracks onto a disk for magnetic data storage have long been investigated. A practical process for manufacturing a cost-effective discrete track recording (DTR) medium has prevented such a disk from being introduced into a product. In this paper, a process utilizing nano-imprint lithography techniques to create a land and groove structure on the surface of a disk substrate will be described. Design considerations for the geometry of the structure, as well as of the magnetic write and read widths of the head, are discussed. Data showing the magnetic characteristics and recording performance of a DTR medium are also presented.     

Selective sensitivity of ellipsometry to magnetic nanostructures

Magneto-optic (MO) ellipsometry of ferromagnetic materials is extremely sensitive to ultra-thin films, multilayers, and nanostructures. It gives a possibility to measure all components of the magnetization vector in the frame of the magneto-optic vector magnetometry and enables us to separate magnetic contributions from different depths and materials in nanostructures, which is reviewed in this article. The method is based on ellipsometric separation using the selective MO Kerr effect. The figure of merit used to quantify the ellipsometric selectivity to magnetic nanostructures is defined on the basis of linear matrix algebra. We show that the method can be also used to separate MO contributions from areas of the same ferromagnetic materials deposited on different buffer layers. The method is demonstrated using both: (i) modeling of the MO ellipsometry response and (ii) MO measurement of ultra-thin Co islands epitaxially grown on self-organized gold islands on Mo/Al₂O₃ buffer layer prepared using the molecular beam epitaxy at elevated temperatures. The system is studied using longitudinal (in-plane) and polar (perpendicular) MO Kerr effects.     

Multiple hot images from an obscuration in an intense laser beam through cascaded Kerr medium disks

We present a theoretical investigation on the formation of hot images in an intense laser beam through cascaded Kerr medium disks, to disclose the distribution and intensity of hot images in high-power disk amplifiers. It is shown that multiple hot images from an obscuration may be formed, instead of one hot image as reported previously in the literature. This gives a clear explanation for the curious damage pattern of hot images, namely, damage sites appearing on alternating optics in periodic trains. Further analysis demonstrates that the distribution and intensity of hot images depend closely on the number of Kerr medium disks, the distance from the obscuration to the front of the first disk downstream, the space between two neighboring disks, and the thickness and B integral of each disk. Moreover, we take two cascaded Kerr medium disks for example to detail multiple hot images from an obscuration and confirm the theoretical results by numerical simulations.     

Polar and longitudinal magneto-optical spectroscopy of bismuth substituted yttrium iron garnet films grown by pulsed laser deposition

Ferrimagnetic bismuth substituted yttrium iron garnet Bi_xY_3 − xFe₅O₁₂ (BiYIG) films with x = 1 and 2 pulsed laser deposited onto (111) Gd₃Ga₅O₁₂ (GGG) substrates were studied using magneto-optical (MO) Kerr spectroscopy in the photon energy range of 1.8-5 eV at both polar and longitudinal magnetizations. The interference at lower photon energies provided the refined film thicknesses ranging between 70 and 200 nm. The films were grown under compressive strain and displayed saturation magnetizations (μ₀M_s) lower than that of their bulk counterparts due to the presence of nanograins forming BiYIG layers and/or magnetically dead interface layers. The trends in the MO spectra agree with those deduced from the published permittivity tensor data for BiYIG using a transfer matrix model applied to a film (BiYIG)-substrate (GGG) system. Due to the reduced μ₀M_s the predicted amplitudes are typically higher. The agreement was improved using effective medium approach or by incorporating into the model MO passive interface layers. The information on MO activity at longitudinal magnetization in the garnet layers below 100 nm presents interest for MO imaging and magnetophotonic devices. The results suggest that the MO Kerr spectroscopy combined with MO Kerr magnetometry may represent a valuable, cheap and nondestructive tool for the characterization of magnetic garnet films less than 200 nm thick.     

可擦重写光盘记录介质材料及其特性

可擦重写光盘因其能对已写入文件进行改写,因此比只读光盘、一次写入光盘具有更大的灵活性,从而具有很好的应用前景。论述了两种可擦重写光盘记录介质即磁光盘记录介质与相变光盘记录介质的记录机理,并详细阐述了两种记录介质的性能要求。     

非晶稀土——过渡金属磁光薄膜热稳定性研究

采用射频磁控溅射方法制备非晶ＤｙＦｅＣｏ磁光薄膜。样品的克尔回线、转矩曲线的测试显示，薄膜具有优良的磁和磁光性能。退火研究表明，随着退火时间的增加，矫顽力下降，垂直磁各向异性能减少，但克尔角变化不明显，其内在机制与薄膜中的微缺陷和应力的弛豫过程有关。     

Collinear technology for a holographic versatile disk

A novel reading and writing technology for a holographic versatile disk (HVD) system called collinear technology is developed. With this method a two-dimensional data page can be recorded as volumetric holograms generated by a reference beam and a signal beam that are bundled on the same axis and that are irradiated on the recording medium through a single objective lens. The multiplex recording and reconstruction process is demonstrated, and it is shown that the optical configuration and the dichroic medium disk structure are suitable for a compact system. With the HVD's special structure, the system can use a servo to focus, track, and locate the reading and writing addresses. A unique selectable-capacity recording format of a HVD and its standardization activity are also introduced. This method willenable us to construct a small HVD system with CD and DVD upper compatibilities.