Magnetic force microscopy study of domain walls on a thin cobalt film

Two types of 180 degrees domain walls on a 115 nm cobalt film are observed by magnetic force microscopy. The surface Neel wall on top of an asymmetric Bloch wall is found inhomogeneous. with the width estimated to be around 200 nm. The width of the rhomb-structured cross-tie wall, on the other hand, is approximately 400 nm. The coexistence of these two types of domain walls indicates that their wall energies are comparable at the film thickness. (C) 1998 American institute of Physics.