Magnetic remanent states in a self-supporting 25nm-thick magnetite (001) film containing antiphase domain boundaries were investigated using off-axis electron holography in the transmission electron microscope. The observed magnetic microstructure was highly complicated and contained both domain walls and finer-scale magnetic variations. This complexity was attributed in part to a competition between exchange coupling across antiphase domain boundaries and the demagnetizing energy of the thin film. Local variations in both the in-plane and out-of-plane components of the magnetic induction in the film were correlated with the positions of the antiphase domain boundaries.

Off-Axis Electron Holography Observation of Magnetic Microstructure in a Magnetite (001) Thin Film Containing Antiphase Domains. T.Kasama, R.E.Dunin-Borkowski, W.Eerenstein: Physical Review B, 2006, 73[10], 104432 (7pp)