Abstract: A review will be given on the analysis of magnetic microstructure, demonstrating how magnetic domains and their substructures can in general be analysed based on a combination of micromagnetism, domain theory and experimental observation by magneto-optical Kerr microscopy. For the latter, recent developments in wide-field Kerr microscopy will be introduced, including depth-sensitive and time-resolved domain imaging, a mathematical deconvolution method to enhance the lateral resolution, contrast separation and -enhancement by using a novel light-emitting diode (LED) lamp, as well as vector magnetometry and in-situ quantitative Kerr microscopy of complete magnetization processes.

About the Speaker: Rudolf Schäfer received the diploma degree in Materials Science and the Ph.D. degree in Engineering from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany) in 1985 and 1990, respectively. He then joined the IBM Research Center in Yorktown Heights (USA) and the Forschungszentrum Jülich (Germany) as a Postdoc in 1991 and 1992, respectively. In 1993 Rudolf Schäfer moved to the IFW Dresden where he became head of the department "Magnetic Microstructures" in 2002. In 2011, Dr. Schäfer was appointed adjunct professor for Magnetic Materials at the Institute for Materials Science at Technical University Dresden. His areas of interest span magnetic materials with a focus on magnetic microstructures and domain imaging by Kerrmicroscopy. He has published more than 170 technical articles in peer-reviewed journals, including book chapters. Together with Alex Hubert he has coauthored the textbook "Magnetic Domains“. A more recent textbook on "Magnetic Microscopy of Layered Structures" also includes an extended chapter on magneto-optical imaging. Prof. Schäfer chaired the technical committee for "Magnetic Imaging" of the IEEE Society for 10 years and is currently the chair of the Conference Executive Committee of the IEEE Magnetics Society. In 2013, he was Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Magnetics Society.