Microdeformations of domain walls in (210)-oriented garnet films (abstract)

Abstract

For appropriate values of perpendicular and in-plane magnetic fields, Hn and Hp, respectively, domain walls in (210) garnet films exhibit zig-zag and sinusoidal distortions along their lengths. Microdeformations of domain walls (DW) near these “instability loss lines”1 in the Hn, Hp plane were investigated in [1̄20]-oriented stripe domain structures by a dark-field magneto-optical technique. Changes of brightness and contrast of the image along and across the DW occur in response to an in-plane field Hp. Figure 1 shows a stripe domain structure with Hp=120 Oe along [001]. The analysis of the images2 confirms the presence of alternating DW parts inclined at angles ±α of about 3°–5° from the film normal. The domain-wall displacement varies through the film thickness as the result of the DW being pinned to the transitional level of the film–substrate interface. In the completely aligned stripe array, in-phase microdeformations have been observed for neighboring domain walls. With an increase of Hp, the DW parts with one direction of tilt are lengthened and the walls are reoriented from the [1̄20] to the [1̄21̄] direction. These results provide information on the spatial configuration of the deformed DW and give the possibility to create a more precise model of the domain and the domain wall in (210) garnet films.