Ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic Fe/NiO (1 0 0) interface studied by non-linear Kerr effect

In this work, the magnetic properties of the Fe/NiO (100) interface at room temperature is investigated using non-linear magnetoopticalKerr effect. Nickel oxide is a promising material for technological applications due to its Ne´el temperature (525 K) occurring wellabove the room temperature. Non-linear Kerr rotation measurements have demonstrated to be an effective way to investigate a ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic interface.The measurements here reported demonstrate that the magnetic properties of the studied interface strongly depend on the Fe layerthickness. In fact, a clear hysteresis loop is observed only for a thickness higher than 5 ML, whereas for the 2 ML sample the hysteresisloop completely disappears. These results are in agreement with previous structural characterizations of the interface. 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.