Magnetization-induced optical third-harmonic generation (MTHG) is observed in magnetic nanostructures: Co and F e nanolayers and granular films containing Co nanoparticles. Magnetizationinduced variations of the MTHG characteristics in these nanostructures exceed the typical values of linear magneto-optical Kerr effect by at least an order of magnitude: the maximum of magnetic contrast in the MTHG intensity is up to 0.2, the angle of polarization rotation for MTHG is 10 • and the relative phase shift is up to 100 • .
PACS numbers:Magneto-optics, with its more than century-long history, remains one of the most important experimental methods in studies of magnetism. Recently, significant attention has been directed towards nonlinear magnetooptics [1]: nonlinear magneto-optical Faraday and Kerr effects in second-harmonic generation (SHG) were observed experimentally in yttrium-iron-garnet films [2], then at surfaces of magnetic metals [3], in magnetic multilayers [4] and nanogranules [5]. Experimental measurements [2-5] and theoretical estimates [6] reveal the typical magnitudes of the magnetization-induced effects in SHG: the magnetization-induced variations of the SHG intensity and rotation of the second-harmonic (SH) wave polarization, may exceed the linear magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) by orders of magnitude. * Electronic address: aktsip@shg.ru † Electronic address: mur@shg.ru