Giant magnetorefractive effect in magnetic granular CoFe-MgF alloys

Abstract

This paper reports on an IR study (5–20 µm) of the dispersion and field dependences of the magnetorefractive effect in granular CoFe-MgF (metal-insulator) systems, which exhibit, in compositions close to the percolation threshold, a tunneling magnetoresistance of 7.5% in a field of 1700 Oe. The change in the reflectivity of p-polarized light under magnetization in the IR spectral region 5–7 µm is of the order of 0.1%, while in the 10-to 12-µm region, this change, reaches record-high values of 1.2–1.5%, which exceed the usual odd and even magnetooptic reflectivities in the IR range by two orders of magnitude. The magnetorefractive effect in magnetic systems with tunneling conduction originates from spin-dependent high-frequency tunneling.