Magneto-optical investigation of the shape anisotropy of individual micron-sized magnetic elements

In this work, the anisotropy of individual microstructured magnetic elements has been investigated. The investigated elements are of elliptical shape with different sizes and aspect ratios (AR), structured from a 5-nm-thick permalloy (⁠$Ni80$$Fe20$⁠) film. For the measurements, a new magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) magnetometer was used. To allow for the investigation of individual microstructured elements, a micro-focused probing laser beam (spatial resolution $≈1μm$⁠) has been combined with a self-stabilizing positioning system of high accuracy, including a rotating unit. Hysteresis loops can be taken for varying orientation of the symmetry axes of the magnetic elements relative to the applied field. For the characterization of the anisotropy, the coercive field as a function of the magnetization direction is extracted from the corresponding hysteresis loops. These results make a quantitative and systematic study of the influence of the shape anisotropy on the magnetic behavior of microstructures possible. The experimental data has been compared to an extended Stoner-Wohlfarth model.