DOMAINS AND HYSTERESIS IN PATTERNED SOFT-MAGNETIC ELEMENTS

We studied the magnetization reversal in rectangular ferromagnetic thi n film elements using the magneto-optical Kerr effect for magnetometry and domain observation, The aim of this study is to support the globa l simulation of magnetic materials such as by the Preisach concept by microscopic investigations, As we are able to study in these samples t he whole domain structure as a function of an applied field in real ti me, we could investigate in detail the question of reproducibility of magnetization processes starting with an identical initial configurati on, We observed an obviously intrinsic irreproducibilty of the main do main rearrangement process characteristic for these samples, This prop erty of an unpredictable magnetization process can be influenced by a superimposed alternating field.