Theory of nonlinear magneto-optics

Nonlinear magneto-optics is a very sensitive fingerprint of the electronic, magnetic, and atomic structure of surfaces, interfaces, and thin ferromagnetic films. Analyzing theoretically the nonlinear magneto-optical Kerr effect for thin films of Fe(001) and at Fe surfaces we demonstrate exemplarily how various electronic material properties of ferromagnets, such as the d-bandwidth, the magnetization, the substrate lattice constant, and the film-thickness dependence can be extracted from the calculated nonlinear Kerr spectra. Furthermore, we show how the substrate d electrons [Cu(001)] affect the nonlinear Kerr spectra even without being themselves spin-polarized and without film-substrate hybridization. We show that the Kerr rotation angle in second-harmonic generation is enhanced by one to two orders of magnitude compared to the linear Kerr angle and how symmetry can be used to obtain the direction of magnetization in thin films and at buried interfaces from nonlinear magneto-optics. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.