Magneto-Optical Properties of Substituted Pt-Mn-Sb Thin Films

The effect of substituting a fourth element in the Pt sites and Mn sites on the magneto-optical effect of PtMnSb films was investigated. The Mn sites were much more difficult to substitute than the Pt sites. Films with Co, Ni and Cu substituted for Pt had wavelength peaks with respect to polar Kerr rotation at longer wavelengths than that of the PtMnSb film, which seems to be because the band gap at the Fermi level with respect to the minority spin is narrower than in the PtMnSb film. The wavelength peaks for samples with Cr and Fe substituted for Mn was at lower wavelengths than the PtMnSb film.