Diffractive magneto-optics, magnetic interactions, and reversal mechanisms in Co microsquare arrays

The magneto-optical properties of Co microsquare—2 mm edge—arrays have been investigated for different interelement separations, from 0.2 to 2.0 mm. The magneto-optical response is measured both at reflected and diffracted beams, and it is compared with the results of a model that uses micromagnetic simulations and optical diffraction theory to calculate the magneto-optical response for different diffracted spots. A satisfactory agreement between the experiments and the predictions from the combined micromagnetic and optical diffraction models allows the interpretation of the experimental data and provides a way to analyze and understand the physical meaning of the magneto-optic diffracted signal. The comparison of this diffracted magneto-optical experimental data with predictions from simple reversal models allows us to monitor different element magnetization reversal mechanisms as the separation between elements in the array varies.