Anisotropy of the optical and magneto-optical response of Au/Co/Au/Cu multilayers grown on vicinal Si (111) surfaces

The optical and magneto-optical second harmonic reflectivity response of Au/Co/Au/Cu multilayers grown on vicinal Si (111) substrates has been studied. These azimuthal optical non-linear experiments check the uniaxial character of the crystallinity of the Au buffer layer and the magnetic behavior of the ultrathin Co films in the metallic multilayer. They clearly show the strong dependence of the growth parameters and the misorientation of the vicinal surface on the SHG reflectivity signals. This uniaxial behavior is also correlated to linear MOKE experiments on the magnetic anisotropy with an easy magnetization axis parallel to the step edges.