Magnetooptical images of inhomogeneous magnetic fields in metallic films with in-plane anisotropy

The magnetooptical (MO) images of the inhomogeneous field created by permanent magnets in magnetic metallic films with in-plane anisotropy are experimentally studied. The MO images recorded using the longitudinal Kerr effect are the superposition of two pictures, namely, a polar-sensitivity MO image and a longitudinal-sensitivity MO image. An analysis of these images after separation shows that the polar-sensitivity MO image reflects the distribution of the inhomogeneous field component that is normal to the surface of an indicator film in an analog manner. The longitudinal-sensitivity MO image reflects the angular distribution of the in-plane component of a stray field in an analog manner. The coincidence of the experimental and corresponding simulated MO images makes it possible to interpret the experimental images. In particular, it is shown that the specific features detected in the topological characteristics of the inhomogeneous field correspond to experimental singular points. Hidden magnetic images (magnetic bar codes) are shown to be visualized with metallic CoFe films. As an example, the stray field of a magnetic system made of cylindrical magnets is mapped.