Nepijko, S. A., Krasyuk, A., Oelsner, A., Schneider, C. M., Schönhense, G.
Quantitative measurements of magnetic stray field dynamics of permalloy particles in a photoemission electron microscopy
Journal of Microscopy 242, (2),pp 216-220 (2011)
By example of a Permalloy particle (40 x 40 μm2 size, 30 nm thickness) we demonstrate a procedure to quantitatively investigate the dynamics of magnetic stray fields during ultrafast magnetization reversal. The measurements have been performed in a time-resolving photoemission electron microscope using the X-ray magnetic circular dichroism. In the particle under investigation, we have observed a flux-closure-dominated magnetic ground structure, minimizing the magnetic stray field outside the sample. A fast magnetic field pulse introduced changes in the micromagnetic structure accompanied with an incomplete flux closure. As a result, stray fields arise along the edges of domains, which cause a change of contrast and an image deformation of the particles geometry (curvature of its edge). The magnetic stray fields are calculated from a deformation of the X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) images taken after the magnetic field pulse in a 1 ns interval. These measurements reveal a decrease of magnetic stray fields with time. An estimate of the lower limit of the domain wall velocity yields about 2 x 103 m s−1.