Magneto-Optical Imaging has developed rapidly over the last decade to emerge as a leading technique to directly visualise the static and dynamic magnetic behaviour of materials, capable of following magnetic processes on the scale of centimeters to sub-microns and at timescales from hours to nanoseconds. The images are direct, real-time, and give space-resolved information, such as ultrafast magnetic processes and revealing the motion of individual vortices in superconductors.

The book is a fully up-to-date report of the present status of the technique.

Inhalt
Overview.- Paving the way for the success of magneto-optics.- Comparison of magneto-optical imaging with other local magnetic probes.- Moi Of Superconductors.- Magneto-optical investigation of superconducting materials.- Quantitative magneto-optics: Flux, current and electrical field imaging.- Magneto-optical imaging of Josephson vortices in layered superconductors.- Magneto-optic investigation of magnetic flux penetration on a nanosecond timescale.- Magneto-optical imaging of superconducting vortices.- Magneto-optical imaging of pattern formation in the vortex landscape.- MO-imaging of granular and structured high-Tc superconductors.- First order transition of the vortex lattice in disordered Bi-2212 crystals.- Magneto-optical measurements of the lifetime spectrum of transient vortex states in BSCCO.- Magneto-optical imaging of crossing-lattices state in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+y T. Tamegai, M. Matsui, M. Yasugaki, Y. Tokunaga and M. Tokunaga.- Strong 3D-correlation in the vortex system of Bi2212:Pb.- Magneto-optical investigation of the vortex order-disorder phase transition in BSCCO.- Magneto-optical studies of chemical inhomogeneities in Bi2212 single crystals.- Optimization of Bi-2223 tape fabrication procedure with help of magneto-optical imaging.- Magneto-optical imaging of cracking in high temperature superconducting films and tapes under tensile strain.- Magneto-optical imaging of magnetic screening in superconducting wires.- Magneto-optical imaging of small angle grain boundaries on different bi-crystalline substrates.- Low-angle grain boundaries of YBCO in external magnetic fields.- Electrodynamics of superconducting YBCO films with confined correlated nanodefects.- Magneto-optical studies of YBCO thick films in the critical state.- Modifying the current distribution of grain boundaries in YBCO films.- Magneto-optical imaging of vortex penetration in patterned YBCO thin film near Tc.- Proton irradiation induced effects on YBCO films analyzed by magneto-optics.- Flux dynamics in current-carrying superconductors.- Effect of substrate orientation and hydrogen impurities on flux penetration in Nb thin films.- Flux jumps in magnesium diboride.- Dendritic flux instabilities in Nb3Sn and NbN thin films First Experimental Observations.- Thermo-magnetic instability as limiting mechanism for electrical current density in MgB2 thin films.- Surface preparation of high-rc superconductors for MO-imaging.- Superconductor magneto-optics and theory.- Inversion of the Biot-Savart law: An approach based on discrete sine and cosine transforms.- Moi Of Magnetic Materials.- Domain Structure and Magnetic Anisotropy in Ga1-xMnxAs.- Forensic imaging of magnetic tapes using magnetic garnet indicator films.- Manipulating magnetic particles using domain walls.- Magneto-optical imaging in an undergraduate laboratory course.- Magneto-optical imaging with sub-micron resolution.- Magneto-Optical Indicators.- Optimization of magnetic garnet films for magneto-optical imaging of magnetic field distributions.- Anisotropy effects in the growth of magneto-optic indicator films.- Domain walls, Bloch line vortices, and their resonances imaged in garnet films using Cotton-Mouton magneto-optics.- Preparation and characterization of sensitive magnetic garnet films for MOI applications.- Improved magneto-optical imaging films employing surface plasmon resonance.