Design of a vector magnet for the measurements of anisotropic magnetoresistance and rotational magneto-optic Kerr effect

A vector magnet is designed and assembled with two electromagnets to produce a rotational magnetic field in any direction within a plane. This design allows a rotation of the magnetic field without a mechanical rotation of the magnets. The fast speed of the field rotation (similar to 10 s for a complete 360 degrees rotation) and the stability against mechanical vibration easily overcome the slow drifting effect in anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) and rotational magneto-optic Kerr effect (ROTMOKE) measurements. As an example we applied this vector magnet to carry out AMR and ROTMOKE measurements on epitaxial growth of Fe(10 nm)/MgO(001) films. The result demonstrates the stability and high quality of the vector magnet in determining the magnetic anisotropy of magnetic thin films using AMR and ROTMOKE techniques. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3698297]