Pentagon domains in FeGa alloys

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-1-2026

Department

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Abstract

This paper reports Bitter method observations of pentagon-shaped magnetic domains on the surface of an Fe-Ga single crystal. These domains intersect parallel Landau-Lifshitz-type domains, termed herein banded domains. The pentagon domains are shown to exhibit peculiar segmented zigzag boundaries distinct from the well known 180° V-lines of the banded domains. To analyze the micromagnetic structure of pentagon domains, domain responses to a perpendicular magnetic field are examined. In particular, the magnetization directions of the pentagon domains and adjacent banded domains are determined via the perpendicular magnetic field-induced spike domain configurations. The subsurface structure of the pentagon domains is then inferred, revealing that the segmented zigzag boundaries actually consist of four types of 90° V-lines. These findings based on the Bitter observations are subsequently verified using the Kerr microscopy technique. The coexistence of 90° V-lines and 180° V-lines as two types of zigzag boundaries in Fe-Ga further clarifies the origin of zigzag boundaries, which lies at the heart of a significant scientific controversy regarding the magnetic domain phenomena in Fe-based magnetostrictive materials.

Publication Title

Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS