Investigation of Co-rich amorphous microwires by help of magneto-optical method with micron resolution

Results on the magneto-optical investigation of near-surface micromagnetic structure of Co69Fe4Si12B15 amorphous wires 10-50 mu m in diameter are pres ented. By scanning the light spot of 1-mu m-diameter along the wire length, distributions of magnetization components and also local hysteresis charac teristics of the wires were measured. It was experimentally established tha t the examined microwires have a circumferential magnetic anisotropy. In co nsequence, there are the near-surface alternate left- and right-handled cir cular domains in these samples. The dependencies of the circular domain wid th on the wire diameter and length were found. It was proved that the domin ant mechanism of the wire magnetization reversal in the axial magnetic fiel d is rotation of local magnetization vectors in circular domains. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.