| Abstract Scope |
Two aspects of magneto-optics are reviewed that have hardly be considered in the past: (i) For MOKE magnetometry it will be shown that the obtained hysteresis loops need to be interpreted very carefully as they are measured locally, determined by the internal (not applied) field and local magnetization processes. (ii) For wide-field MOKE microscopy numerous magneto-optical effects will be discussed that lead to intensity-based domain contrast in the absence of analyser and compensator. This includes the Transverse Kerr effect, a novel 45°-dichroic effect (Oppeneer effect), the Magnetic Linear Dichroism effect, and the Dichroic Gradient effect. All these effects require linearly polarized light for illumination. A further effect is the Magnetic Circular Dichroism effect that requires circularly polarised illumination. References: I. Soldatov et al., IEEE Magn. Lett. 11, 2405805 (2020) and R. Schäfer, et al., Appl. Phys. Rev. 8, 031402 (2021. |