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MA: Magnetismus

MA 32: Mikro- und nanostrukturierte magn. Materialien II

MA 32.6: Talk

Wednesday, March 9, 2005, 12:15–12:30, TU H1028

Bragg-MOKE, Vector MOKE, ROTMOKE: The magnetic reversal of microstructured patterns — •Andreas Westphalen, Katharina Theis-Bröhl, and Hartmut Zabel — Institut für Experimentalphysik/Festkörperphysik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany

The Bragg MOKE technique extends the information of standard MOKE measurements by making use of diffraction from regular arrays of magnetic microstructures. The nth order diffraction spot is particularly sensitive to the nth order Fourier component of the magnetisation distribution. The orientation of the magnetisation vector during the reversal process is studied with Vector MOKE. The orientation is obtained through the determination of two orthogonal magnetisation components as a function of the external field. The ROTMOKE method, where the Kerr-angle is measured as a function of a rotating field, enables the quantitative determination of the Voigt effect contribution to the longitudinal Kerr effect. Here we have explored the properties of all three techniques for the investigation of regular arrays of magnetic microstructures. The samples under investigation are microstructured patterns of Fe and Co, which display a variety of different magnetic reversal mechanisms. We have found that the combination of the three techniques gives a deeper understanding of the magnetic reversal process.
We acknowledge financial support through SFB 491.