Observation of magnetic forces by the atomic force microscope

We  pr e s ent  a new way to observe the  surface doma in di s t r ibut ion of  a magne t i c  s ampl e  a t  a submi c rome t e r  scale. Thi s  magnetic microscopy is based on the  idea of  me a sur ing magne t i c forces wi th the  r e c ent ly developed a tomi c  force microscope (AFM) .  We  s tudy the  magne t i c forces involved in the  int e r a c t ion be twe en a single-domain mi c rot ip and the  s ampl e  sur f a c e magne t i c  doma ins .  The  influence of  the  experimental condi t ions  on the  pe r formanc e  of  the AFM a s  a magne t i c  profiling device is also discussed. Pr e l imina ry expe r iment a l  r e sul t s  a r e r epor t ed.