A scanning laser microscope system to observe static and dynamic magnetic domain behavior

Author

Clegg, Warwick ; Jenkins, David F L ; Helian, Na ; Windmill, James F C ; Fry, Nick ; Atkinson, Ron ; Hendren, William R. ; Wright, C. David

Author_Institution

Centre for Res. in Inf. Storage Technol., Univ. of Plymouth, UK

Volume

51

Issue

1

fYear

2002

fDate

2/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

10

Lastpage

13

Abstract

Scanning laser microscopes (SLMs) have been used to characterize the magnetic properties of materials for some time. The first SLM built was a purely static system capable of imaging magnetic domains. Dynamic capability was introduced with the development of the R-Theta microscope. However, this microscope utilizes a rotating drive. A scanning laser microscope has been designed to observe the dynamic behavior of domain switching during the thermomagnetic write process and the subsequent magnetization state (domain orientation) in stationary media, without the requirement for a rotating drive. It may also be used to write to the magneto-optic (MO) disk material thermomagnetically prior to imaging. Images are derived from the longitudinal and polar magneto-optic Kerr effects. In this paper, the different configurations for imaging are described and some initial images are presented

Keywords

magnetic domains; magnetic switching; magneto-optical recording; optical microscopes; scanning probe microscopy; thermomagnetic recording; SLM imaging; domain orientation; domain switching; longitudinal magneto-optic Kerr effect; magnetization state; magneto-optic disk material; polar magneto-optic Kerr effect; scanning laser microscope system; static/dynamic magnetic domain behavior; stationary media; thermomagnetic write process; Kerr effect; Magnetic domains; Magnetic force microscopy; Magnetic materials; Magnetic properties; Magnetic switching; Magnetization; Magnetooptic effects; Optical design; Optical materials;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9456

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/19.989886

Filename

989886