MAGNETIC FORCE MICROSCOPY APPLICATIONS
selected experimental results
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Magnetic Force Microscopy on Iron Pnictide at 4.1 K
	In these measurements, the vortex lattice in the iron pnictide Ba1-xKxFe2As2 was measured at a temperature of 4.1 K and a magnetic field of 45 Gauss. In contrast to Bi-2212, the pnictide superconductor shows pronounced pinning, leading to a strongly disordered vortex lattice. The image shows unprocessed, as-measured MFM phase data recorded at 70 nm constant height (attocube application labs, 2009; sample courtesy of Prof. Hai-Hu Wen, Chinese Academy of Science, Institute of Physics, Beijing, Republic of China).
Magnetic Force Measurements on Fe0.25TaS2 at 77 K
	Magnetic images were measured at 77 K at several different magnetic fields applied perpendicular to the sample surface. The MFM measurements were performed in constant height mode and were recorded in a phase-lockloop mode. This means that a change of the cantilever resonance frequency is directly measured and a frequency shift depends linearly (to the first approximation) on the force gradient acting on the tip. (attocube application labs, 2009; sample courtesy of Prof. Sang-Wook Cheong , Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA).
Magnetic Force Microscopy on Bi-2212 at 4.1 K
	In this measurement, attocube’s attoMFM Ixs was used to image the hexagonal vortex lattice of optimum doped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (Bi-2212) at a temperature of 4.1 K and a magnetic field of 45 Gauss. The image shows unprocessed, as-measured MFM phase data recorded at 70 nm constant height. The hexagonal distribution of vortices indicates that only very little pinning is present in in the sample (attocube application labs, 2009; sample courtesy of A. Erb, Walther Meissner Institute, Germany).
Low Temperature MFM Measurements on Co Nanowires
	This application demonstrates the measurement of magnetic properties of Co nanowires measured at temperatures ranging from 1.9 K to 300 K using the attoMFM Ixs. All measurements were conducted at 100 nm constant height, with the frequency shift of the cantilever being the measurement parameter. The Cobalt nanowires exhibit a pronounced magnetic field at all temperatures, with a domain size of approximately 500-1000 nm (attocube application labs, 2010; sample courtesy of Prof. Jiang Wang, Center for Nanoscale Science and Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania, USA).
High Resolution Magnetic Force Measurements on Co-PD at 10 K
	This application demonstrates MFM measurements on Co-Pd dots with 50 nm diameter, performed at 10 K inside a PPMS cryostat using the attoMFM Ixs. The images demonstrate the high magnetic resolution achievable with the attoMFM. Variation in magnetic field applied perpendicular to the surface allows switching domains from one magnetic state to the other as demonstrated by the images to the left hand side, recorded at 6250 Oe and 7000 Oe, respectively. For these measurements, the attoMFM was operated at constant height with the frequency shift measured using a phase-locked loop (attocube application labs, 2010; sample courtesy of Hitachi Global Storage Solutions, San Jose, USA).