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Title: Magnetic domain wall contrast under zero domain contrast conditions in spin polarized low energy electron microscopy

Journal Article · · Ultramicroscopy
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [1]
  1. Fudan Univ., Shanghai (China)
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
  3. Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States); Georgetown Univ., Washington, DC (United States)
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
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Critical applications of spin polarized low energy electron microscopy (SPLEEM) employ this technique's vector imaging capability to resolve domain wall (DW) spin textures. Studying several thin film systems including Co/W(110), Co/Cu(001) and (Co/Ni)n/W(110), we demonstrate that an additional contrast can appear at magnetic DWs. By imaging the magnetization as a function of electron landing energy, electron energies are selected at which the magnetic domain contrast vanishes. Surprisingly, under such conditions of zero contrast between magnetic domains, we observe the appearance of magnetic contrast outlining the DWs. This DW contrast fails to depend on the DW spin texture. Instead, our measurements show that this DW contrast results from a combination of the energy-dependence of the spin reflectivity asymmetry of the magnetic film, the finite energy width of the spin polarized electron source, and the dispersion of the magnetic prism array that separates the illumination and imaging columns of the instrument. Awareness of this DW contrast mechanism is useful to aid correct interpretation of SPLEEM images.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Key Basic Research Program of China; National Key Research and Development Program of China; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Program of Shanghai Academic Research Leader; National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; 2015CB921401; 2016YFA0300703; DMR-1610060; MRP-17-454963; NSF DMR-1610060
OSTI ID:
1542402
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1636478
Journal Information:
Ultramicroscopy, Vol. 200, Issue C; ISSN 0304-3991
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 3 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Magnetic Materials and Systems: Domain Structure Visualization and Other Characterization Techniques for the Application in the Materials Science and Biomedicine journal January 2020

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Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
Spin polarized low energy electron microscopy
Magnetic domains
Magnetic domain walls
Magnetic thin films