New possibilities of synchrotron radiation diffraction topography for the investigation of 'exotic' magnetic domains

Synchrotron radiation topography on modern sources, coupled with adequate CCD detectors, is producing (in a shorter time and with better resolution) results which could only be obtained, up to now, by using neutron topography. This is shown by two examples, carried out at the ESRE on 'exotic' antiferromagnetic domains: (1) the imaging of 180 degrees antiferromagnetic domains in cobalt fluoride is performed using the inverse piezomagnetic effect: the action of a magnetic field while cooling and 'memory' effects are investigated in this way, and (2) the spin density wave domains in chromium are observed using their associated, weak, charge density wave peaks: the importance of the surface effects to determine the domain type is evidenced.