Magnetic dissipation force microscopy

Abstract

A method of measuring magnetic dissipation on a sub-100 nm scale is presented. This technique relies on measuring changes in the damping of the oscillating tip in a magnetic force microscope(MFM). Damping contrast is strongly correlated with micromagnetic structure and in the case of NiFe, is in quantitative agreement with magnetoelastic losses in the sample. On recording tracks, large damping signals are observed. This has direct consequences on the interpretation of traditional MFMimages acquired with detectors that convolute frequency and damping information.