Magneto-optical Kerr microscope (KERR-MICROSCOPE)


Magneto-optical Kerr microscope

Guarantor:
Klára Jelénková

Instrument status:
Operational Operational, 17.8.2021 12:15

Equipment placement:
CEITEC Nano - C01.05


Kerr Microscope system is facility for the visualisation of magnetic domains and magnetization processes as well as for optically recording magnetization curves on all kinds of magnetic materials, including bulk specimens like sheets or ribbons, magnetic films and multilayers, patterned films or micro- and nanowires. They are semi-automatic, contact-less, non-destructive measuring systems using the magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) as contrast mechanism. Automatic off-axial light system allows for automatic and simultaneous visualization of all the components of magnetization vector. The microscope is equipped with rotable in-plane magnet with maximum field of 0.3 T with possibility of cooling, or a home made out-of-plane magnet with maximum field of 0.1 T (no magnet cooling available).


Publications:

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Photogallery:

Specification:

Both in-plane and out-of plane magnets are controlled by current KEPCO source available at the instrument. The in-plane magnet has several options in terms of field ranges, depending on the combination of coil (small or large) and the poles (no poles / split poles / high field poles). Overview of the field ranges for the combinations is seen in the table below. For higher DC fields/AC fields/longer measurement times the cooling for the IP magnet is avalable. The out-of plane magnet is a home made magnet with range approx. ±0.1 T without any cooling possibility.


No polesSplit polesHigh field poles
Small coil±1.78 mT, linear±17.5 mT, linearnot used
Big coil±37.6 mT, linear±337 mT

±353 mT (poles 10 mm out)

±537 mT (poles 6 mm out)

± 756 mT (poles 4 mm out)


The measurement sowftware allows the user to choose the LED lamp control option for Kerr sensitivities (longitudinal+polar / transversal+polar / longitudinal+transversal / polar / pure longitudinal / pure transversal), define a region of interest (ROI) on a part of the sample, perform measurements in the 'looper' where one can define hysteresis loop measurements and save images for each step during loop measurements, save images in the manual mode, etc. Further the data can be processed in an additional SW (e.g. video from image sequences, plotting a profile, additional manual bacground subtraction, etc.).

Current lenses available:

  • 20x, NA 0.5, Pol
  • 50x, NA 0.8 Pol (NM)
  • 60x, NA 0.7 Nikon lense + adapter
  • 100x, NA 1.3 Oil Pol (NM)
  • 50x, NA 0.75 HD (previous with microscope)
  • 100x, NA 0.85 HD (previous with microscope)

Documents:

Link to official instrument manuals (access for CEITEC Nano users only after login):

official instrument manuals - KERR

For more documentation created by CEITEC Nano see the "Document Library" section.