A high resolution microscopic approach for imaging antiferromagnetic nanodomains of NiO thin film.

Imaging of tiny antiferromagnetic nano-domains in Nickel Oxide films grown on top of Ag(100) single crystal substrate was performed by laboratory based Low Energy Electron Microscopy (LEEM) and compared with a complimentary well established technique named X-ray Magnetic Linear Dichroism Photoemission Electron Microscopy (XMLD-PEEM). Due to its high spatial resolution of 8-10 nm LEEM is able to probe very small grainy antiferromagnetic domains even in the ultrathin film where XMLD-PEEM saturates due to its limited resolution 50nm. By probing these nano-size magnetic domains at different electron energies we enlighten the structure of magnetic Twin (T) domains which leads to better understanding of magnetism of a two-dimensional antiferromagnetic oxide material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]