Calculated magneto-optical Kerr effect in Fe, Co, and Ni

We report ab initio calculations of magneto-optical Kerr effect in Fe, Co, and Ni. Both real and imaginary parts of the interband optical response functions are calculated from self-consistent energy-band calculations in the presence of both a magnetic moment and spin-orbit interaction. We draw particular attention to two ways to obtain the real part of the response functions: first by direct calculation with the energy treated as a complex variable, and second by Hilbert transformation of the imaginary part of the response functions. The calculated magneto-optical Kerr effect for both the cubic metals Fe and Ni are in good agreement with measurements. Fair agreement between the theory for Co with recent measurements on Co hcp and fee multilayers is obtained.