High resolution imaging based on photo-emission electron microscopy excited by deep ultraviolet laser

Magnetic imaging technology based on photo-emission electron microscopy (PEEM) has become an important and powerful tool for observing the magnetic domain in spintronics. The PEEM can get access to real-time imaging with high spatial resolution and is greatly sensitive to the spectroscopic information directly from the magnetic films and surfaces through photoemission process with variable excitation sources. Moreover, the breakthrough in the deep ultraviolet (DUV) laser technology makes it possible to realize domain imaging without the limitation of synchrotron radiation facilities or the direct excitation of photoelectrons due to the high enough photon energy of the source in the current threshold excitation study. In this review article, the deep ultraviolet photo-emission electron microscopy system is first introduced briefly. Then, a detailed study of the magnetic domain observation for the surface of L1(0)-FePt films by the DUV-PEEM technique is presented, where a spatial resolution as high as 43.2 nm is successfully achieved. The above results clearly indicate that the DUV-PEEM reaches a level equivalent to the level reached by X-ray photoemission imaging technique. Finally, a series of recent progress of perpendicular FePt magnetic thin films obtained by the DUV-PEEM technique is provided in detail. For example, a stepped Cr seeding layer is used to form the large-area epitaxial FePt films with (001) and (111) two orientations, where magnetic linear dichroism (MLD) with large asymmetry is observed in the transition area of two phases. The signal of MLD is 4.6 times larger than that of magnetic circular dichroism. These results demonstrate that the magnetic imaging technology based on DUV-PEEM with excellent resolution ability will potentially become an important method to study magnetic materials in the future.