Scattering by Stripe Grating

Abstract

When bismuth is substituted at certain lattice points of rare earth garnet crystals, a material is formed which exhibits an almost ideal magnetic stripe domain structure. The structure consists of a one-dimensional periodic array of regions of nearly constants magnetization, so that the magnitudes of the magnetization vectors in two adjacent regions are the same, but their directions are opposite. This condition produces the alternating-sign magnetic permeability tensors shown in section 1.7(3). When a beam of light is passed through such a film, it splits into many diffracted beams, all sharing a plane defined by the periodicity direction (i.e., the y-component of all the wave vectors is the same; see Figure 1.1). The angles of the diffracted-beam directions relative to the incident-beam direction are determined by the periodicity length.