MAGNETIC FORCE MICROSCOPY ANALYSIS OF SOFT THIN-FILM ELEMENTS

Several different soft magnetic materials have been investigated by means of Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM) using a commercial Atomic Force Microscope (Nanoscope III) with slope detection. The observed contrast of basically solenoidal magnetization distributions in nanocrystalline Fe-Permalloy multilayer and single-layer Permalloy thin film elements not only reveals wall locations, and thus the subdivision of the magnetic volume into domains, but also a decomposition into subdomains hitherto undocumented. A strong influence of the magnetic fine structure is also demonstrated Additional observations of the classical lancets of a Goss texture in bulk Iron confirm the fact that the symmetries of the observed contrast are consistent with those of the perpendicular component of magnetization within a volume close to the sample surface.