Towards 3D Magnetic Force Microscopy

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel magnetic force microscopy technique that detects in-plane magnetic stray fields by exciting cantilever modes simultaneously, enabling better analysis of complex magnetic nanostructures.

Contribution

A new method using split-electrode excitation to simultaneously measure vertical and lateral magnetic stray fields in MFM.

Findings

Enables detection of in-plane magnetic components.

Allows simultaneous acquisition of vertical and lateral MFM images.

Improves analysis of topological magnetic structures.

Abstract

Magnetic force microscopy (MFM) is long established as a powerful tool for probing the local manifestation of magnetic nanostructures across a range of temperatures and applied stimuli. A major drawback of the technique, however, is that the detection of stray fields emanating from a samples surface rely on a uniaxial vertical cantilever oscillation, and thus are only sensitive to vertically oriented stray field components. The last two decades have shown an ever-increasing literature fascination for exotic topological windings where particular attention to in-plane magnetic moment rotation is highly valuable when identifying and understanding such systems. Here we present a new method of detecting in-plane magnetic stray field components, by utilizing a home made split-electrode excitation piezo that allows the simultaneous excitation of a cantilever at its fundamental flexural and torsional modes. This allows for the joint acquisition of traditional vertical mode (V-MFM) images and a lateral MFM (L-MFM) where the tip-cantilever system is only sensitive to stray fields acting perpendicular to the torsional axis of the cantilever.