Aging of rubrene layers in Ni/rubrene heterostructures studied by magneto-optical Kerr effect spectroscopy.

Magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) spectroscopy was applied to probe the aging of Ni/rubrene bilayers under ambient atmosphere. A comparison between the simulated MOKE spectra of the heterostructure and the experimental MOKE spectra recorded at several time intervals after the samples were exposed to the ambient atmosphere demonstrates that the organic layer undergoes slow oxidation. The Ni top layer was found to exhibit capping properties, reducing the rate of oxidation of the organic underlayer in comparison with single organic layers.