A new direct measurement of the domain wall energy of the orthoferrites

A new technique for the direct measurement of the domain wall energy per unit area has been developed and applied in the orthoferrites. The simplest possible domain wall configuration (a set of planar, parallel, equally spaced domain walls) has been predicted and observed to be stable. In the new technique to measure the domain wall energy per unit area, these planar walls have been controllably stretched to increase the total wall area and the total wall energy within a sample. The increase of wall area has been observed by the Bitter and Faraday techniques. Calculation of the work exerted by the applied and demagnetizing fields in forcing this increase has yielded the new measure of the domain wall energy per unit area. The domain wall energy per unit area of