By measuring the spin polarization of secondary electrons generated in a scanning electron microscope, scanning electron microscopy with polarization analysis (SEMPA) can directly image the magnitude and direction of a material’s magnetization. Because the escape depth of the secondaries is only on the order of 1 nm, SEMPA is especially well-suited for investigating the magnetization of ultra-thin films and surfaces. We have exploited this feature of SEMPA to study the magnetic microstrcture and magnetic coupling in ferromagnetic multilayers where the layers may only be a few atomic layers thick. For example, we have measured the magnetic coupling in Fe/Cr/Fe(100) and Fe/Ag/Fe(100) trilayers and have found that the coupling oscillates between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic as a function of the Cr or Ag spacer thickness.The SEMPA apparatus has been described in detail elsewhere. The sample consisted of a magnetic sandwich structure with a wedge-shaped interlayer as shown in Fig. 1.
