Layer-Sensitive Magneto-Optical Kerr Effect Study Of Magnetization Reversal In Fe/Mnas/Gaas(001)

Fe/MnAs/GaAs(001), a prototypical system for thermally assisted magnetization reversal, is studied by magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements. The results show that it is possible to recover elemental sensitivity from magneto-optical measurements when both Kerr rotation (theta(K)) and Kerr ellipticity (epsilon(K)) are measured under the same conditions. Both Fe and MnAs magnetic cycles can be extracted from simple linear combinations of theta(K) and epsilon(K) cycles. The data analysis shows that the orientation of the Fe magnetization at remanence can be controlled through the temperature of the system as a result of the peculiar temperature dependent self-organized stripes pattern in MnAs/GaAs(001). Published by AIP Publishing.