Magneto-optical Kerr-effect measurements under pulsed magnetic fields over 40 T using a compact sample fixture

Abstract

The magnetic field is one of the most fundamental control parameters in materials science. A pulsed magnetic-field apparatus can generate high magnetic fields that are inaccessible by conventional DC-field magnets. One important issue is that measurement techniques compatible with pulsed fields are rather limited due to short pulse duration and large electromagnetic or mechanical noise originating from field pulses. The magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE), the change in the state of light polarization upon reflection from magnetic materials, has the potential to become a powerful tool for investigation of magnetic properties of a wide range of materials including non-transparent materials or thin films in pulsed fields. Nevertheless, since the MOKE response is typically very small, MOKE measurements under pulsed fields are quite challenging. Here, we present a new method to measure polar MOKE under high pulsed magnetic fields of 2-ms pulse width. The keys of this new technique are a ferrule-based compact sample-fiber fixture and a phase-resolved numerical lock-in analysis, combined with the high-resolution optical apparatus based on an all-fiber loop-less Sagnac interferometer. We succeeded in measuring MOKE signals from various ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic samples above 40 T and down to 77 K, significantly extending the limits of previously reported pulse-field MOKE measurements. Our apparatus is simple enough to be compatible with larger-scale experiments in pulse-field facilities, thus becoming a new promising tool to optically investigate material properties in pulsed fields.