Observation of the Domain Structures in Soft Magnetic (Fe97A13)85N15/Al2O3 Multilayers

The longitudinal magnetooptical Kerr effect was used to analyse magnetic domains in soft magnetic ${(Fe_{97}A1_3)}_{85}N_{15}$/$Al_{2}O_{3}$ multilayers in order to get microscopic understanding of interlayer exchange coupling. The measuring system consists of a Kerr microscope, a CCIR camera (with an 8-bit framegrabber), 16 bit digital camera and computer system for real-time image processing and to control external magnetic field and cameras. The strength of ferromagnetic (EM) coupling as a function of the spacer thickness of $Al_2O_3$ was investigated. It was found that strong FM-coupling, strong uniaxial anisotropy and coherent rotation of the magnetization have been observed for the spacer thickness in the range of 0.2 nm $\leq$ t $\leq$ 1 m, however, weak FM-coupling, patch domains and $360^{\circ}$-walls occur for the spacer thickness of t = 2.5 nm. At a spacer thickness of t $\geq$ 5 nm transition takes place from weak FM-coupling to the decoupled state where complex interlayer interactions and different types of the domain walls were observed.