A combined nonlinear and linear magneto-optical microscopy

New possibilities for magnetic domain studies are demonstrated using a combination of nonlinear magneto-optical microscopy and a conventional linear polarizing microscope. The use of an optical response that is governed by a higher rank tensor offers sensitivity to additional combinations of magnetization directions and optical wave vector and polarization, which is demonstrated in magnetic garnet films of different crystallographic orientations. We observed a nontrivial modulated domain structure in a (210) film and a clear domain contrast for a (111) film, where the linear image only indicated simple up–down domains and no domain contrast for these two situations, respectively.