Combined Microscope

It is not always easy to obtain a complete picture of the domains and magnetization processes of a sample by focusing on a small spot. Examples are manifold: in a polycrystalline sheet sample (such as electrical steel), the domains and processes in one grain may depend on the behavior of neighboring grains. Magnetic layers deposited on an extended wafer may exhibit variations in the anisotropy axis or coercivity across the entire wafer surface, or domain nucleation in layers with perpendicular anisotropy may occur at a specific location far from the area examined with a high-resolution microscope. 

evico magnetics has therefore developed a low-resolution overview Kerr microscope that addresses such problems. It provides an overview of the domain pattern of larger samples with a variable spot size of approx. 30 x 30 mm to 8 x 8 mm at a resolution in the range of 10 µm. The overview microscope can be combined with our high-resolution Kerr microscope so that specific areas of interest selected with the overview microscope can then be examined with high-resolution imaging. The overview microscope can also be purchased separately as a stand-alone microscope. 

Our overview microscope is particularly advantageous for MOKE magnetometry as it enables the measurement of local hysteresis loops on large sample areas, which would require complex scanning procedures with a laser-based MOKE magnetometer.

The combined system is a highly flexile setup that combines two microscope versions:

(i) a low-resolution version and

(ii) a high-resolution optical microscope.

Both versions are implemented in the same setup and can be used optionally.