Kerr Microscope

Imaging a sample can be done in many ways, depending on the light-matter interaction we are interested in observing. The magneto-optic Kerr effect describes the change in polarization and intensity of incident light when it impinges on the surface of a magnetic material. The resultant reflected light can then form an image through focusing optics which provides high contrast between areas of different magnetization.

Through Kerr microscopy, we aim to characterize the relative changes in magnetization across a magnetic sample.

Team members

• Joel Yeo
• Gan Jun Herng

(Feel free to edit this page or email me at joelyeo@u.nus.edu if you would like to join.)

Idea

In this project, we will be aiming to build a basic Kerr microscope using off-the-shelf polarizers, objectives, detectors and laser source. A magnetic sample can be borrowed from a team member's research lab. To increase the field of view, we also plan to incorporate automatic raster scanning of the sample through means of an Arduino-controlled sample stage.

Some useful search keywords are:

• Faraday rotation

Setup

Location: S11-02-04

Lab Session Logs

10 Feb 2022

Hunted down the required parts. We used the diagram from NaBiS from Politechnico di Milano’s physics department as our guide.

Linear polarizer was found, but extremely dirty. First rinsed with water than finished cleaning with isopropanol (IPA). IPA available in S11-02-04 room cupboard. Discussed some other things between us and with TAs:

• Stage requires mm precision
• blah

And here’s how to use the power supply to power the LED: