Revealing 3D magnetization of thin films with soft X-ray tomography: magnetic singularities and topological charges.

Hierro-Rodriguez, A; Quirós, C; Sorrentino, A; Alvarez-Prado, L M; Martín, J I; Alameda, J M; McVitie, S; Pereiro, E et al. · Nat Commun · 2020

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The knowledge of how magnetization looks inside a ferromagnet is often hindered by the limitations of the available experimental methods which are sensitive only to the surface regions or limited in spatial resolution. Here we report a vector tomographic reconstruction based on soft X-ray transmission microscopy and magnetic dichroism data, which has allowed visualizing the three-dimensional magnetization in a ferromagnetic thin film heterostructure. Different non-trivial topological textures have been resolved and the determination of their topological charge has allowed us to identify a Bloch point and a meron-like texture. Our method relies only on experimental data and might be of wide application and interest in 3D nanomagnetism.