All Topics  
Magnetic force microscope

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Magnetic force microscope
 
 
  Topics Magnetic force microscope Topic Home

A magnetic force microscope is a type of atomic force microscope
Atomic force microscope

The atomic force microscope or scanning force microscope is a very high-resolution type of Scanning probe microscopy, with demonstrated resolution of fractions of a nanometer, more than 1000 times better than the diffraction limited....
 (AFM). Unlike typical AFM, magnetic materials are used for the sample and tip, so that the tip-sample magnetic interactions are detected. Many kinds of magnetic interactions are measured by MFM, including magnetic dipolar interaction. MFM scanning often uses non-contact AFM (NC-AFM).

In MFM measurements, the magnetic force between the sample and tip is given by:

F = (m .?)H


m: magnetic moment
Magnetic moment

In physics, astronomy, chemistry, and electrical engineering, the term magnetic moment of a system usually refers to its magnetic dipole moment, and is a measure of the strength of the system's net Magnetism....
 of the tip


H: magnetic stray field from the sample


Because the magnetic stray field from the sample will affect the magnetized state and vice versa, in most cases it is difficult to obtain quantitative information from the MFM measurement.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Magnetic force microscope'
Start a new discussion about 'Magnetic force microscope'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


A magnetic force microscope is a type of atomic force microscope
Atomic force microscope

The atomic force microscope or scanning force microscope is a very high-resolution type of Scanning probe microscopy, with demonstrated resolution of fractions of a nanometer, more than 1000 times better than the diffraction limited....
 (AFM). Unlike typical AFM, magnetic materials are used for the sample and tip, so that the tip-sample magnetic interactions are detected. Many kinds of magnetic interactions are measured by MFM, including magnetic dipolar interaction. MFM scanning often uses non-contact AFM (NC-AFM).

In MFM measurements, the magnetic force between the sample and tip is given by:

F = (m .?)H


m: magnetic moment
Magnetic moment

In physics, astronomy, chemistry, and electrical engineering, the term magnetic moment of a system usually refers to its magnetic dipole moment, and is a measure of the strength of the system's net Magnetism....
 of the tip


H: magnetic stray field from the sample


Because the magnetic stray field from the sample will affect the magnetized state and vice versa, in most cases it is difficult to obtain quantitative information from the MFM measurement. To interpret the information quantitatively, the configuration of the tip must be known. With this measurement, a typical resolution of 30 nm can be achieved (Abelmann, 1998). Although resolutions as high as 10 nm are attainable (Nanoscan AG, February 2008).

A potential method of increasing the resolution would involve using an electromagnet on the tip instead of a permanent magnet. Enabling the magnetic tip only when placed over the pixel being sampled could increase the resolution.