A method to measure the two-dimensional image of magneto-optical Kerr effect

Abstract

A two-dimensional (2D) image of magneto-optical Kerr effect measurement system has been designed and constructed. The magnetic field is provided by two cylindrical permanent magnets in the 0–8000 G range. To avoid beam deviation and other problems in the measurement, an electronically controlled liquid crystal retarder with a fixed polarizer was used to detect the polarization change of the light at the 546.1 nm wavelength. The Fourier transformation method was used to retrieve the Kerr signal in data analysis. The Kerr image signal was measured by using a 2D charge coupled diode (CCD) array detector with 1536×1024 pixels. In terms of a telescope with 1:1 optical magnification, the CCD pixel detects the Kerr signal that is produced by the microsurface of the sample with the area size equaling to that of the pixel. The image Kerr effect of GdFe film sample was measured with the results to show that the 2D Kerr pattern can map the in-plane distribution of the magnetic property of the sample surface.

Ultrafast time-resolved magneto-optical imaging of all-optical switching in GdFeCo with femtosecond time-resolution and a μm spatial-resolution

“…Recently, several groups have demonstrated in statical magnetic imaging that one could also obtain more quantitative information on MO effects with the direct imaging system. [22][23][24][25][26][27] The challenge is to apply such technique to ultrafast time-resolved measurements of magnetization dynamics.…”

Multi-Wave and Hybrid Imaging Techniques: A New Direction for Nondestructive Testing and Structural Health Monitoring

“…The magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) has important applications in modern information technology, especially in the design and manufacturing of high-density magneto-optical storage devices [ 101 ]. To increase the magnetic recording areal density, there is ongoing research into testing and characterization of different magnetic thin films [ 102 ].…”

Applications of combinatorial approach to the investigation of optical functional materials

“…Fortunately, characterization of the optical properties is natural parallel, i.e., either excitation/emission or irradiation/reflection is easy to achieve high spatial resolution under parallel analysis. So, applications of combinatorial method to the investigation of functional optical materials such as luminescent, electro-optical, magneto-optical materials have been carried out extensively [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] . Below, the progress in this area will be introduced by using the recent studies conducted by the authors as samples.…”

“…However, the lack of proper characterization tools limited the efficiency gain. Although the MOKE imaging systems developed by Zhao et al [10,11] recently could work in a parallel mode, the limited brightness of the light sources made it difficult to obtain high efficiency and high signal to noise ratio at the same time.…”