The magneto-optic Kerr effect describes how linearly polarized light becomes elliptically polarized upon reflecting off a magnetic material. The degree of rotation depends on the magnetization state of the surface layer. This effect is widely used in laboratory metrology to probe surface magnetism and was historically the readout mechanism for magneto-optical data storage disks.
Heard on the job
We set up a balanced photodiode detector to measure the magneto-optic Kerr effect and map the magnetic domains on the thin film.