Magneto-optical parameters of Co90Fe10 andCo50Fe50 ferromagnetic thin films for 1.3 μm integrated isolator

In order to optimize a 1.3 mu m integrated optical isolator using a CoFe alloy for the non-reciprocal magneto-optical (MO) transverse Kerr effect, we have measured the optical and magneto-optical indices of Co90Fe10 and Co50Fe50 alloys grown in the Al2O3/Al/CoFe/ GaAs multilayer structure. The optical reflectivity and MO rotation and ellipticity measurements were performed at variable incidence angle and s and p polarization of the incident light. In order to determine the optical and MO indices, the experimental data were fitted using a Matlab implementation of a standard multilayer Yeh formalism including multiple reflections. This original procedure allows precise determination of the optical and MO indices of CoFe alloys. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.