Islamic Azad University Journal of Optoelectronical Nanostructures Winter 2019 / Vol. 4, No. 1 Enhancement of the Magneto-Optical Kerr Effect in One- Dimensional Magnetophotonic Crystals with Adjustable Spatial Configuration Tahmineh Jalali *,1 , Abdolrasoul Gharaati 2 , Mohammad Rastegar 2 , Mohammad Ghanaatian 2 1 Physics Department, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran 2 Physics Department, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran (Received 13 Dec. 2018; Revised 25 Jan. 2019; Accepted 18 Feb. 2019; Published 15 Mar. 2019) Abstract: We studied magnetophotonic crystals (MPCs) with introduced magnetic defect layer sandwiched between magnetic and dielectric Bragg mirrors. These magnetophotonic crystals have excellent capabilities to enhance reflection and Kerr rotation simultaneously. By adjusting spatial configuration such as repetition numbers of Bragg mirrors and thickness of magnetic defect layer, we achieved the Kerr rotation angles more than 75˚ and reflection very close to 1. We briefly described the formulation of finite element method (FEM) and transfer matrix method (TMM). The electric field distribution and magnitude of it along the MPCs are simulated using FEM. Using the TMM, we calculated the MO responses of MPCs. With light localization inside the magnetic defect layer and multiple reflections in it, the magneto-optical (MO) responses of these MPCs were significantly increased. The studied structures in this research have high MO responses that make it suitable for designing MO elements in highly sensitive devices and optical telecommunication tools. Keywords: Magneto-Optics, Magnetophotonic Crystals, Reflectance, Kerr Rotation, Defect Layer 1. INTRODUCTION Within the past two decades, studying and creating microstructures and nanostructures with high accuracy for using in optical elements and telecommunications has been the subject of intense interest among the researchers. Photonic crystals (PCs) are periodic structures of optical materials with refractive index modulation in one, two, and three dimensions. These structures control and manipulate the propagation of light [1-4]. Initially, one- *Corresponding author. Email: Jalali@pgu.ac.ir