Wide-field imaging of the magnetization process in soft magnetic-thin film using diamond quantum sensors

Abstract

The magnetization process of a soft magnetic CoFeB-SiO2 thin film was imaged using diamond quantum sensors with perfectly aligned nitrogen-vacancy centers along the [111] direction formed by CVD. Around the film edge, the easy and hard axes directions exhibited different responses to the external magnetic field, consistent with ones observed by magneto-optical Kerr effect microscopy. Moreover, quantum diamond imaging could observe discontinuous magnetization along domain walls as non-uniform magnetic charges (MCs). Quantum diamond imaging would help in visualization through MCs, such as irregularity in the material and relative orientation of magnetizations in neighboring domains.