Magnetorefractive Effect for Co/Ru Multilayer Film with Antiferromagnetic Interlayer Exchange Coupling

The spin-dependent scattering of conduction electron in metallic magnetic multilayers was investigated to reveal the optical properties which corresponded to the magnetization state. From the measurement of magnetorefractive effect in antiferro-magnetically exchange coupled Co/Ru multilayers, it was found that (1) the transmittance varied around 1% at wavelength of 1550 nm during the parallel/antiparallel spin alignment changes, (2) as a result of number of repetition and Co thickness for the multilayers, transmittance difference between the parallel and antiparallel spin alignment states had trade-off relationship with the magnitude of transmittance, and (3) asymmetric Co/Ru/Co stacking structure brought different interlayer exchange coupling fields in each layer, which resulted in magnetic field sensitive transmittance. (C) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.