Magnetic Force Microscopy Study of $Zn_{1-x}Co_{x}O$ Nanowires Grown by Rapid Thermal Evaporation

In this work we studied domain structure of $Zn_{1-x}Co_{x}O$ nanowires which are single arms of tetrapode crystals. The as-grown material exhibits hysteretic behavior even at room temperature as revealed by SQUID mesurements. In order to get insight into the magnetic properties of individual tetrapodes they were dismembered into nanowires of nanometric diameters, deposited on a flat substrate and imaged by magnetic force microscopy. A magnetic interaction between the magnetic force microscopy probe and single nanowires has been detected which confirms that nanometric volume of the material possesses a magnetic moment. The magnetic force microscopy contrast is attractively independent of the tip magnetization direction which indicates that shape anisotropy of nanowires is not strong enough to prevent occurrence of tip-induced magnetic field disturbance.