Abstract
Magnetic force microscopy (MFM) belongs to the methods that enable spatially resolved magnetization measurements on common thin-film samples or magnetic nanostructures. The lateral resolution can be much higher than in Kerr microscopy, another spatially resolved magnetization imaging technique, but since MFM commonly necessitates positioning a cantilever tip typically within a few nanometers from the surface, it is often more complicated than other techniques. Here, we investigate the progresses in MFM on magnetic nanofibers that can be found in the literature during the last years. While MFM measurements on magnetic nanodots or thin-film samples can often be found in the scientific literature, reports on magnetic force microscopy on single nanofibers or chaotic nanofiber mats are scarce. The aim of this review is to show which MFM investigations can be conducted on magnetic nanofibers, where the recent borders are, and which ideas can be transferred from MFM on other rough surfaces towards nanofiber mats.
Highlights
Magnetic force microscopy is a magnetic characterization method of samples usually with a maximum of a few ten nanometers surface roughness, which has been established more than 30 years ago and was developed further since [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Distinguishing between magnetic and topographic signals is here even more complicated than in case of the aforementioned crystals and grains. This is why this review investigates the recent state of magnetic force microscopy (MFM) measurements on nanofibers in different situations and produced by different techniques, ranging from nanowire arrays to randomly distributed nanofibers as they are typically created by electrospinning
MFM investigations of regular magnetic nanofiber arrays with surface heights differing only slightly can often be found in the literature and MFM measurements on single nanofibers, positioned flat on a substrate, are regularly performed, investigations of many nanofibers in one MFM image or even an entire nanofiber mat are as scarce as examinations of 3D lattice structures
Summary
Magnetic force microscopy is a magnetic characterization method of samples usually with a maximum of a few ten nanometers surface roughness, which has been established more than 30 years ago and was developed further since [1,2,3,4,5,6] It works by measuring an atomic force microscopy (AFM) image of the surface topography of a sample, followed by lifting the probe to avoid short-range van der Waals interactions between the tip and sample and instead measuring the long-range magnetic interactions (Figure 1) [5]. In addition to this simplest form of magnetic force microscopy (MFM), there are more sophisticated ones, including frequency-modulated Kelvin probe force MFM, dynamic magneto-electric force microscopy [5], phase-locked loop methods [7,8], and even measurements in different environments, e.g., in liquids, that have been shown [9,10]
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