Optical magnetization control in EuO films

Abstract

Optical second and third harmonic generation (SHG and THG) on epitaxial ferromagnetic EuO films couple linearly to the ferromagnetic order parameter. This is exemplified by investigating the effect of Gd-doping of EuO by SHG and the magnetization of very thin EuO films by the third-order magneto-optical rotation associated to THG. In contrast to the Faraday rotation the latter does not depend on the thickness of the film.