Dr. Tim Butcher from the Microspectroscopy group was recently awarded the first prize in the "Art in Magnetism" competition of the JEMS 2023 conference (https://www.jems2023.es/index.php/art-competition) with his contribution "Biffo", obtained from a soft X-ray ptychography image of a BiFeO3 multiferroic nanoplate.
Soft X-ray ptychography is a scanning microscopy technique that enables the imaging of nanoscale systems with a sub-10nm spatial resolution. Combined with a suitable contrast mechanism, such as circular or linear dichroism, magnetic textures can be visualised with high resolution. The stripes of Biffo, which are reminiscent of the stripes of a butterfly fish, are the antiferromagnetic cycloid in the multiferroic BiFeO3 nanoplate. These are also directly coupled with its ferroelectric domain structure.
Contact:
Dr. Tim A. Butcher
Swiss Light Source
Paul Scherrer Institut
Telephone: +41 56 310 5696
E-mail: tim.butcher@psi.ch