Thickness independent magneto-optical coupling constant of nickel films in the visible spectral range

Magneto-optical properties of nominally 10, 20, and 30 nm thick ferromagnetic Ni films have been investigated at room temperature by vector-magneto-optical generalized ellipsometry under saturated magnetization conditions in the sample surface plane. The magneto-optical dielectric tensor of Ni has been determined by reflection Mueller matrix ellipsometry in the spectral range from 300 to 1100 nm. Different sets of magnetic field induced Mueller matrix elements enable us to identify the magnetization directions in the sample. The extracted magnetic field and thickness independent magneto-optical coupling constant is useful for modeling the Mueller matrix and complex Kerr angle of magnetized Ni thin films in layered sample systems in dependence of the incident angle of light, wavelength, and magnetization.