Room Temperature Magnetic Imaging of Micron Sized Domains Using a Scanning Hall Probe Microscope

A scanning Hall probe microscope (RT-SHPM) incorporating an ultra-high sensitive 0.8 μm GaAs Hall probe sensor was used for imaging magnetic domains at room temperature. Images showed (a) well-defined magnetic transitions in floppy disks to coalesce into small islands under perpendicular external fields and (b) the configurational hysteresis of domain structures in low-coercivity Bi-substituted iron garnet epilayers in alternating external fields. The RT-SHPM was also used for quantitatively imaging ZIP and magneto-optical disk media.