Emergence of Magnetic Texture in Cobalt Single Films induced by a Magnetic Field

Magnetic domains in ferromagnetic thin films can exhibit interesting textures. Magnetic are formed from local atomic magnetic moments dictated by minimization of energy. This direction may be out-of-plane (OOP) or in-plane (IP) depending on the thickness of the film or on the magnitude and direction of an applied magnetic field. Investigating the morphology of magnetic texture via the use of an Atomic/Magnetic Force Microscope (AFM/MFM) allows us to access the OOP component in magnetic texture under changing field (in-situ). By comparing AFM and MFM images taken at the same location of the sample, we are able to identify purely magnetic textures that form and change according to the magnitudes of both the OOP field and the hysteresis of the sample. We also investigate how these textures correlate to both the IP and OOP magnetization which can be found using Vibrating Sample Magnetometry (VSM).