Magnetic soft x-ray holography study of focused ion beam-patterned Co/Pt multilayers

We report on Fourier transform holography (FTH) experiments on nanostructured Co/Pt multilayer films with 40 nm spatial imaging resolution. The films have been nanostructured by means of focused ion beam (FIB) milling. Applying the ion beam through the supporting membrane with controlled and homogeneous dosing allows for higher resolution magnetic structuring of the ion-sensitive film compared to direct FIB patterning. Nanostructured samples with magnetic stripes exposed to different ion doses and magnetic arrays with 200 nm lattice constant were successfully prepared and imaged by FTH. We present image-processing routines for artifact-free image reconstruction. With this, we could investigate the FIB-induced anisotropy modulation and the perpendicular domain structure in the nanostructured samples, showing how to control the domain size and configuration by applying the appropriate ion dose either homogeneously or concentrated in single spots.