Magneto-Optical Spectra of Copt 3 : Experiments and First Principles Calculations

The magneto-optical Kerr effect of CoPt3 ordered compounds and alloys is investigated experimentally and analyzed theoretically using first principles band structure calculations. The calculations confirm the experimental results and allow for the first time a detailed, bandstructure based interpretation of the electronic transitions leading to the well known strong uv peak at around 4eV. This feature can be unambiguously attributed to magneto-optical transitions within the Pt p and d bands.