QUANTITATIVE MAGNETIC FORCE MICROSCOPY ON PERPENDICULARLY MAGNETIZED SAMPLES

We present a transfer-function approach to calculate the force on a ma gnetic force microscope tip and the stray field due to a perpendicular ly magnetized medium having an arbitrary magnetization pattern. Under certain conditions, it is possible to calculate the magnetization patt ern from the measured force data. We apply this transfer function theo ry to quantitatively simulate magnetic force microscopy data acquired on a CoNi/Pt multilayer and on an epitaxially grown Cu/Ni/Cu/Si(001) m agnetic thin film. The method described here serves as an excellent ba sis for (i) the definition of the condition for achieving maximum reso lution in a specific experiment, (ii) the differences of force and for ce z-derivative imaging, (iii) the artificial distinction between doma in and domain wall contrast, and finally (iv) the influence of various tip shapes on image content. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(98)03611-1].