Stroboscopic imaging of an alternating magnetic field from a perpendicular magnetic recording head by frequency-modulated magnetic force microscopy

The alternating current (ac) magnetic field from perpendicular magnetic recording head was imaged by using our developed frequency-modulated magnetic force microscopy (FM-MFM), which uses the frequency modulation of cantilever oscillation caused by applying ac magnetic field to a mechanically oscillated cantilever. The amplitude and phase signals (or orthogonal X and Y signals) of the ac magnetic field can be obtained separately by using the FM-MFM technique incorporated with a lock-in amplifier. A signal transformation technique to characterize the AC magnetic field source for frequency modulated magnetic force microscopy was proposed. Two-dimensional vector analysis together with the magnetization vector rotation of the perpendicular recording head was demonstrated using the FM-MFM method combined with the signal transformation algorithm. By taking advantage of this technique, the present method opens a possibility to stroboscopic analyze the AC magnetic field source and gives a very useful feedback for the development of advanced magnetic recording heads. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4720508]