Magnetic domain wall contrast under zero domain contrast conditions in spin polarized low energy electron microscopy
Abstract
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.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[3];
- Fudan Univ., Shanghai (China)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
- Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States); Georgetown Univ., Washington, DC (United States)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- 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)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1542402
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1636478
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231; 2015CB921401; 2016YFA0300703; DMR-1610060; MRP-17-454963; NSF DMR-1610060
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Ultramicroscopy
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 200; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0304-3991
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS; Spin polarized low energy electron microscopy; Magnetic domains; Magnetic domain walls; Magnetic thin films
Citation Formats
Zhou, Chao, Chen, Gong, Xu, Jia, Liang, Jianhui, Liu, Kai, Schmid, Andreas K., and Wu, Yizheng. Magnetic domain wall contrast under zero domain contrast conditions in spin polarized low energy electron microscopy. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.ultramic.2019.02.026.
Zhou, Chao, Chen, Gong, Xu, Jia, Liang, Jianhui, Liu, Kai, Schmid, Andreas K., & Wu, Yizheng. Magnetic domain wall contrast under zero domain contrast conditions in spin polarized low energy electron microscopy. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultramic.2019.02.026
Zhou, Chao, Chen, Gong, Xu, Jia, Liang, Jianhui, Liu, Kai, Schmid, Andreas K., and Wu, Yizheng. Fri .
"Magnetic domain wall contrast under zero domain contrast conditions in spin polarized low energy electron microscopy". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultramic.2019.02.026. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1542402.
@article{osti_1542402,
title = {Magnetic domain wall contrast under zero domain contrast conditions in spin polarized low energy electron microscopy},
author = {Zhou, Chao and Chen, Gong and Xu, Jia and Liang, Jianhui and Liu, Kai and Schmid, Andreas K. and Wu, Yizheng},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1016/j.ultramic.2019.02.026},
journal = {Ultramicroscopy},
number = C,
volume = 200,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2019},
month = {Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2019}
}
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Works referencing / citing this record:
Magnetic Materials and Systems: Domain Structure Visualization and Other Characterization Techniques for the Application in the Materials Science and Biomedicine
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