Abstract
We have developed a magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) imaging system with a charge-coupled-device (CCD) camera by using the rotating compensator technique. We chose optimal conditions of the rotation frequency of the compensator with stable rotation along with a CCD camera frame rate that allowed precise control of the exposure timing in order to link with the angle of the compensator. Precise timing management of the CCD exposure enables us to carry out repeated experiments, which greatly improves the signal-to-noise ratio of the longitudinal MOKE signal. We applied the technique to the material characterization of the Ni81 Fe19 thin film and its microstructure, and succeeded in evaluating the spatial variation of the complex magneto-optic constant Q of the sample. Because of its attractive advantages such as high-speed and compactness, the present method provides a novel platform for investigating the domain structures in various magnetic materials.
Highlights
Because of their unique magnetic domain structure and their dynamical behavior,[1,2,3] magnetic microstructures of ferromagnetic materials are of great interest,[4,5,6] especially for application to emergent data-storage devices
It is well known that magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) microscopy[7,8] is a powerful tool to study magnetic domains and their dynamics
We have reported in this paper the longitudinal MOKE (L-MOKE) imaging system with a CCD camera using the rotating compensator polarimetry technique
Summary
Because of their unique magnetic domain structure and their dynamical behavior,[1,2,3] magnetic microstructures of ferromagnetic materials are of great interest,[4,5,6] especially for application to emergent data-storage devices. The polarization change due to the MOKE is a consequence of surface reflection from ferromagnetic materials with complex refractive index N and complex magneto-optic constant Q due to spin-orbit interaction in these materials.[9,10,11,12] Numerous studies using MOKE microscopy have been carried out to characterize the magnetic properties of ferromagnetic thin films.[13,14,15,16] Recently, MOKE microscopes with array detectors, such as a charge-coupled-device (CCD), which are useful to obtain the spatial distribution of magnetization, have been developed and utilized.[17,18,19,20,21,22,23] there are no reports about the quantitative estimation of Q from MOKE images. We have successfully obtained the spatial image of Q using our technique
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