Polarized neutron reflectometry (PNR) has long been applied to measure the magnetic depth profile of thin films. In recent years, interest has increased in observing lateral magnetic structures in a film. While magnetic arrays patterned by lithography and submicron-sized magnetic domains in thin films often give rise to off-specular reflections, micron-sized ferromagnetic domains on a thin film produce few off-specular reflections and the domain distribution information is contained within the specular reflection. In this paper, we will first present some preliminary results of off-specular reflectivity from arrays of micron-sized permalloy rectangular bars. We will then use specular reflections to study the domain dispersion of an exchange-biased Co/CoO bilayer at different locations of the hysteresis loop.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0210124,
title = {Measuring Lateral Magnetic Structure in Thin Films Using Polarized Neutron Reflectometry},
author = {W. -T. Lee and S. G. E. te Velthuis and G. P. Felcher and F. Klose and T. Gredig and D. Dahlberg and B. V. Toperverg},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0210124},
year = {2009}
}