Voigt effect-based wide-field magneto-optical microscope integrated in a pump-probe experimental setup

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel wide-field magneto-optical microscope integrated into a pump-probe setup, enabling spatially and temporally resolved studies of magnetic anisotropy in ferromagnetic materials, including defect effects and strain-induced modifications.

Contribution

The work introduces a Voigt effect-based MO microscope integrated with pump-probe experiments, capable of studying magnetic anisotropy with high spatial and temporal resolution, including applications to defect analysis and strain effects.

Findings

Mechanical defects affect magnetic anisotropy in (Ga,Mn)As.

Strain from piezoelectric actuators modifies local magnetic properties.

The setup can potentially study antiferromagnets with MO effects.

Abstract

In this work we describe an experimental setup for spatially-resolved pump-probe experiment with integrated wide-field magneto-optical (MO) microscope. The MO microscope can be used to study ferromagnetic materials with both perpendicular-to-plane and in-plane magnetic anisotropy via polar Kerr and Voigt effects, respectively. The functionality of the Voigt effect-based microscope was tested using an in-plane magnetized ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As. It was revealed that the presence of mechanical defects in the (Ga,Mn)As epilayer alters significantly the magnetic anisotropy in their proximity. The importance of MO experiments with simultaneous temporal and spatial resolutions was demonstrated using (Ga,Mn)As sample attached to a piezoelectric actuator, which produces a voltage-controlled strain. We observed a considerably different behavior in different parts of the sample that enabled us to identify sample parts where the epilayer magnetic anisotropy was significantly modified by a presence of the piezostressor and where it was not. Finally, we discuss the possible applicability of our experimental setup for the research of compensated antiferromagnets, where only MO effects even in magnetic moments are present.