Magnetic properties of three-layer thin-film systems based on cobalt with an intermediate layer of gadolinium

The results of the investigation of the magneto-optical properties of thin-film Co/Gd/Co systems obtained by ion-plasma magnetron sputtering are presented. The thickness of the Co layers was 5.0 nm, and the Gd one varied from 0.1 to 9.0 nm. It was found that the shape of the spectral dependences of the equatorial Kerr effect of the studied samples is almost identical and similar to the magneto-optical spectra observed for cobalt films. With that, the magnitude of the magneto-optical effect depends on the thickness of the Gd layer. In particular, it decreases with increasing thickness of the Gd layer. This fact is explained by a decrease in the contribution of the cobalt layer to the magneto-optical signal with rising thickness of the Gd layer.