Selective sensitivity in Kerr microscopy
I. V. Soldatov and R. Schäfer, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 88, 073701 (2017)
A new technique for contrast separation in wide-field magneto-optical Kerr microscopy is introduced. Domain images with orthogonal in-plane sensitivity are displayed simultaneously at real-time, and images with pure in-plane or polar contrast are obtained.
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Advances in quantitative Kerr microscopy
I. V. Soldatov and R. Schäfer, Phys. Rev. B 95, 014426 (2017)
An advanced wide-field Kerr microscopy approach to the vector imaging of magnetic domains is demonstrated. The method is applied to the investigation of the magnetization process in a patterned Permalloy film element and GaMnAs semiconducting film.
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Advanced MOKE magnetometry in wide-field Kerr-microscopy
I. V. Soldatov and R. Schäfer, J. Appl. Phys. 122, 153906 (2017)
In this paper, an advanced experimental method, based on a motorized analyzer, is introduced which allows to compensate the Faraday contributions, thus leading to pure MOKE (Magneto-Optical Kerr Effect) loops. A wide field Kerr microscope, equipped with this technology, works well as a laser-based MOKE magnetometer, additionally offering domain images and thus providing the basis for loop interpretation.
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Size analysis of sub-resolution objects by Kerr microscopy
I. Soldatov, W. Jiang, S.G.E. Te Velthuis, A. Hoffmann and R. Schäfer, Appl. Phys. Lett. 112 (26), 262404 (2018)
A Kerr microscopy method for the quantitative measurement of the size of magnetic objects that are smaller than the resolution limit is proposed. It can be applied to domain walls, bubble domains and magnetic skyrmion-bubble hybrid microstructures.
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I.V. Soldatov, J. Zehner, K. Leistner, T. Kang, D. Karnaushenko and R. Schäfer, JMMM. 529, 167889 (2021)
Based on a multi-component Kerr imaging technique we have developed a fully automated procedure for the measurement of magnetisation reversal loops along arbitrary in-plane field directions for magnetic films with in-plane anisotropy that does not require any mechanical adjustment of the system.
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Interpretation of Kerr Microscopic Domain Contrast on Curved Surfaces
I.V. Soldatov, V. Kolesnikova, V. Rodionova and R. Schäfer, JMMM. 529, 167889 (2021)
In this letter, we address a technical peculiarity of wide-field magneto-optical Kerr microscopy, which may easily lead to a misinterpretation of the domain contrast on curved surfaces. On the example of circumferentially magnetized domains in ferromagnetic microwires, we show that the checkerboard domain pattern, which typically shows up in polar Kerr sensitivity, is caused by the superposition of longitudinal Kerr contrasts that arise from in-plane magnetization components and inclined light incidence rather than from the magnetization components perpendicular to the focal plane as claimed in the literature. Experimental ways to avoid such peculiar contrasts are demonstrated.