Optical and magneto-optical properties of epitaxial Mn2GaC MAX phase thin film

Abstract We report measurements of the dielectric permittivity, optical conductivity and magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) of the epitaxial Mn2GaC MAX-phase thin film in an external magnetic field of up to 200 mT, at temperatures of 296 and 140 K and 1.4 to 3.5 eV. The optical conductivity and MCD spectra show absorption peaks which are consistent with the interband electronic transitions for different positions of Mn, Ga, and C ions as confirmed by theoretical calculations of the spin-dependent density of electronic states. The well-known structural phase transition at 214 K is also seen in the changes of optical, magneto-optical and surface magnetic properties of Mn2GaC in our experiment.