Features of the simplest model of second-harmonic magneto-optical Kerr effects

Abstract

A generalised formalism of characteristic matrices is presented to analyse second-harmonic magneto-optical Kerr effects in an optically anisotropic centrosymmetric ferromagnetically ordered multilayer if its response can be described in terms of electric polarisation. Features of the model associated with ideal (infinitely thin) interfaces are highlighted. These are due to both the existence of two versions of unconventional boundary conditions and an inevitable conventional approach to defining the surface polarisations through the fundamental electric field and surface-susceptibility tensors. New analytical results for linear and second-harmonic Kerr effects are shown to be advantageous for developing an effective algorithm for their numerical simulation. The linear approximation with respect to magnetisation is pursued, thereby also making our results suitable for investigating a great variety of magneto-optical effects and (in the second-harmonic case) effects related to anisotropy.