Abstract
Recently, the first direct optical observation of vertical Bloch lines using a laser scanning microscope has been reported (A. Thiaville, L. Arnaud, F. Boileau, and G. Sauron, EMMA Conference, Salford, Great Britain, 1987, paper AD‐19). Here we describe a different way of direct observation that uses a polarizing light microscope. This method has the advantage of lower thermal disturbance of the domain structure and the ability of real‐time observation. To obtain one‐sided dark‐field illumination, the incoming light beam is coupled into the garnet film by means of a glass microprism. On examining the Bi‐containing film, the Bloch lines can be directly observed through the eyepiece of the microscope. Movement of Bloch lines caused by in‐plane field pulses, and also by asymmetric bias field pulses, is observed.

This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit: