Eur. Phys. J. B (2012) 85: 124
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2012-20675-4

Regular Article

Magneto-optical imaging of elastic strain-controlled magnetization reorientation

¹ Walther-Meißner-Institut, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 85748 Garching, Germany
² Physik-Department E23, Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany

^a e-mail: Andreas.Brandlmaier@wmi.badw.de

Received: 17 August 2011
Received in final form: 30 December 2011
Published online: 13 April 2012

Abstract

We study strain-controlled magnetization-reorientation processes in nickel thin film/piezoelectric actuator hybrid structures. To obtain a consistent picture of the connection between magnetic microstructure and magnetoresistance, we correlate simultaneously measured spatially resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect imaging and integral magnetotransport measurements at room temperature. Our results show that the magnetization predominantly reorients by coherent rotation as a function of the voltage applied to the hybrid, except for a narrow region around the coercive field for which the magnetization reorientation evolves via domain effects. This demonstrates that both magnetic-field and strain-driven magnetization reversal can be modeled in terms of a macrospin model.