Strong stripe domains

Abstract

The extent to which asymmetry in theoretical domain wall profiles produces asymmetries in the intensity distributions in electron microscope images, under typical illumination conditions, is investigated. Qualitative agreement is recorded between the calculated image intensities and those obtained experimentally from strong stripe domain structures. The effect of specimen tilting on the diffraction pattern size is discussed and it is shown that the results obtained, assuming a simple one-dimensional domain wall model, are not in agreement with torque magnetometry experiments. Theoretical diffraction patterns arising from tilted two-dimensional wall models give better agreement with experimental results and conclusions about the nature of the stripe domains are drawn.