Multilayered magnetic nanostrips studied by transmission X-ray microscopy

Transmission x-ray microscopy with the x-ray magnetic circular dichroism as a contrast mechanism was used to image the field dependent evolution of magnetic domains in artificially nanostructured strips of a multilayered Fe/Gd system. A diversity of domain configurations have been imaged for different strengths of the applied magnetic field and different widths of the strips, varying between 100 nm, and 1 mum. Undulating domain patterns, analogous to those observed in other condensed matter systems could be found.