Quantitative magnetic force microscopy

Standard magnetic force microscopy (MFM) provides qualitative mapping of a sample’s magnetic stray field at the surface. Nanoscale characterisation of magnetic fields is important for fundamental and applied research on magnetic materials and devices. ​NPL has developed a new method to offer quantitative MFM measurements which provides quantitative values of the stray field.

This unique MFM scanning technique can be combined with other systems and techniques to allow in-field measurements, up to 150 mT of in-plane or 100 mT of out-of-plane field. It can examine electrostatic compensation using Kelvin-probe microscopy (KPFM), ideal for electrically biased devices or other materials where the surface charge is important, especially for 2D semiconductor materials. Measurements can be carried out over a range of environmental conditions, such as a vacuum down to the 10^-6 mbar or up to 100 °C. It also has the capability to electrically monitor the sample while imaging, which allows the study of local electrical, magnetic or thermal gating effects.

Read more about our work

• Frontiers of magnetic force microscopy
• Magnetic force microscopy: comparison and validation of different magnetic force microscopy calibration schemes

• V-shaped domain wall probes for calibrated magnetic force microscopy

• Calibration of multilayered magnetic force microscopy probes

• Direct writing of room temperature and zero field skyrmion lattices by a scanning local magnetic field

• Transfer function determination for quantitative MFM: modelling and verification

• Magnetic imaging using geometrically constrained nano-domain walls

• Individual skyrmion manipulation by local magnetic field gradients’

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