Magneto-optical magnetometry of individual 30 nm cobalt nanowires grown by electron beam induced deposition

We show that magnetometry measurements based upon the magneto-optical Kerr effect and high resolution optical microscopy can be used as a noninvasive probe of magnetization reversal for individual nano-structures. Our measurements demonstrate single pass hysteresis loop measurements for sample sizes down to 30 nm width. A quantitative signal-to-noise ratio evaluation shows that our approach achieves an at least 3-fold improvement in sensitivity if compared to focused laser based nano-magnetometry. An analysis of the physical limits of our detection scheme enables us to estimate that measurements for structures with single digit nm widths and magnetic moments of 10−16 Am2 are feasible.