Spin-Polarized Scanning Electron Microscopy

This review describes a powerful method for studying magnetic microstructures, spin-polarized scanning electron microscopy. When the beam of the electron microscope scans across a ferromagnetic sample, secondary electrons are emitted whose spin polarization contains information on the magnetization and its direction in the top surface region. Various illustrative examples are presented which describe the main features of the technique, such as very high surface sensitivity, the complete separation of magnetic and topographic information, and the high lateral resolution.