Additivity of the magneto-optic Kerr signal in ultrathin Fe(110)/Ag(111) superlattices

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Abstract
Fe(110)/Ag(111) superlattices were fabricated by molecular-beam epitaxy and investigated by means of the surface magneto-optic Kerr effect (SMOKE). Reflection high- and low-energy electron diffraction and Auger spectroscopy were used to determine that both Fe(110) on Ag(111) and Ag(111) on Fe(110) grow epitaxially. In situ SMOKE measurements were made as a function of the number of bilayers for four superlattice samples with bilayer thicknesses ranging from 19 to 25 Å. We find that the Kerr signal initially depends only on the total thickness of Fe and is independent of the intervening Ag layers. This result confirms that anticipated from a general macroscopic formalism evaluated in the thin-film limit.