Daniel J. Coady, Amanda C. Engler, et al.
ACS Macro Letters
Kerr activity is observed in pure Ag films in the vicinity of the plasma resonance (3.85 eV) when subjected to a strong external magnetic field. This inherent magneto-optical behaviour of Ag in a narrow wavelength range (0.12 eV) around the plasma resonance is explained utilizing the classical Lorentz-Drude model for the off-diagonal elements of the dielectric function. This activity is a consequence of a combined effect of the weakly damped free electron system and the sharp onset of d-band transitions. The possibility of enhancing the Kerr activity of amorphous TbFeCo alloys by Ag overlayers is also investigated. © 1988 Springer-Verlag.