Analyser-free, intensity-based wide-field magneto-optical microscopy

In conventional Kerr- and Faraday microscopy the sample is illuminated with plane-polarised light and a magnetic domain contrast is generated by an analyser making use of the Kerr- or Faraday rotation. In this paper we demonstrate possibilities of analyser-free magneto-optical microscopy based on magnetisation-dependent intensity modulations of the light: (i) The transverse Kerr effect can be applied for in-plane magnetised material, demonstrated for an FeSi sheet. (ii) Illuminating the same sample with circularly polarised light leads to a domain contrast with a different symmetry as the conventional Kerr contrast. (iii) Circular polarisation can also be used for perpendicularly magnetised material, demonstrated for a garnet film and an ultrathin CoFeB film. (iv) Plane-polarised light at a specific angle can be employed for both, in-plane and perpendicular media. (v) Perpendicular light incidence leads to a domain contrast on in-plane materials that is quadratic in the magnetisation and to a domain boundary contrast. (vi) Domain contrast can even be obtained without polariser. In cases (ii) and (iii), the contrast is generated by MCD (Magnetic Circular Dichroism), while MLD (Magnetic Linear Dichroism) is responsible for the contrast in case (v). The domain boundary contrast is due to the magneto-optical gradient effect in metallic samples. A domain boundary contrast can also arise due to interference of phase-shifted magneto-optical amplitudes. An explanation of these contrast phenomena is provided in terms of Maxwell-Fresnel theory.