BUSCADOR RECOLECTA

Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC

oai:digital.csic.es:10261/287001

Magneto-optical techniques are key tools for the characterization of magnetic effects at the nanoscale. Here, we present the dark-field magneto-optical Kerr effect (DFMOKE), a technique we have recently developed for the characterization of three-dimensional magnetic nanostructures. We introduce the principles of DFMOKE, based on the separation of an incident beam into multiple reflected beams when focusing on a 3D nano-geometry. We show the key modifications needed in a standard focused MOKE magnetometer to perform these measurements. Finally, we showcase the power of this method by detecting the magnetic switching of a single tilted 3D nanowire, independently from the switching of a magnetic thin film that surrounds it. We obtain independent and simultaneous switching detection of the nanowire and the film for all nanowire dimensions investigated, allowing us to estimate a magnetic sensitivity of 7 × 10-15 A m2 for DFMOKE in the setup used. We conclude the article by providing perspectives of future avenues where DFMOKE can be a very powerful characterization tool in future investigations of 3D magnetic nanostructures., DSH and AFP are grateful to the University of Cambridge, where part of this research was performed. DSH acknowledges funding from ANR/CNRS under the French Plan Relance de l’Etat for the preservation of R&D. This work was supported by the European Community under the Horizon 2020 Program, Contract No. 101001290 (3DNANOMAG), the MCIN with funding from European Union NextGenerationEU (PRTR-C17.I1), and the Aragon Government through the Project Q-MAD. L.S. acknowledges support from the EPSRC Cambridge NanoDTC EP/L015978/1, Peer reviewed