A study is made of the surface corrugation during thermal cycling of ferromagnetic shape memory alloys (FSMA). This specific feature is a property of FSMA alloys and is a consequence of martensitic phase transformations not necessarily connected with surface defects of the material. The surface relief structure was studied together with martensite and magnetic domain structure changes during thermal cycling of the samples with the aid of differential polarized light microscopy. The analysis was facilitated making use of auxiliary reference grids applied to the surface of the samples.

A study is made of spatial and temporal temperature variations in working devices based on ferroic functional materials. The measurement of the sample's temperature is complemented with direct observation of its distribution over the sample surface. For the latter purpose a thermovision infrared videocamera technique was employed. Specific features of the temperature distribution and its evolution during heating and cooling of a number of piezoelectric, acoustooptic and shape memory components are revealed. Examples of hot spot observations indicative of structural defects in the samples under study are given thus suggesting the use of thermal vision for nondestructive testing. A proposal is made to combine the thermovision method with that of thermomagnetic analysis for the study of ferromagnetic shape memory alloys.

A study of the magnetoelectric effect is done in a laminated sandwich composite of magnetically soft high-permeability ribbons of Fe-Co-Si-B (Metglas) alloy and piezoelectric macrofiber c composites (PMFC). It is shown that high values of Metglas magnetic permeability result in high values of magnetostrictive susceptibility thus compensating for moderate magnetostriction constants of Metglas and making it competitive with giant magnetostriction alloys of the Terfenol type. High magnetoelectric voltage coefficients of the studied composites enable to use them in various devices including sensors, transducers, energy harvesters and other magnetoelectric devices.

The martensitic and magnetic domain structures of polycrystalline and single-crystal samples of ferromagnetic Heusler alloys of the Ni-Mn-Ga and Co-Ni-Ga families have been revealed and studied using optical microscopy. The main mechanisms of formation and interaction of 90° and 180° magnetic domains have been described.

A method of localized polarization-optical measurement of dielectric hysteresis loop parameters on microscopical areas of ferroelectric samples combined with simultaneous observation of their domain structure is proposed. A sensitive two-beam differential polarization-optical hysteresisgraph is built for performing the experiments. Examples are given of the study of slow domain structure relaxation processes and dielectric hysteresis curves of lead germanate Pb 5 Ge 3 O 11 .

The application of bismuth-substituted ferrite-garnet epitaxial structures for the spatial characterization of magnetic field distributions has been studied. These structures, consisting of a GGG substrate with BiLu(FeGa)5O12 film grown by the liquid phase epitaxy method, were supplied by an Al mirror, thus enabling a doubling of the Faraday effect. The structures have been successfully used for the visualization of magnetic fields of various origins, including magnetic cards, tapes, floppy and hard disks, and magnetic domain structures.

Effects hf thermal magnetization have been investigated in Fe-Nd-B permanent magnets. Temporary relationships of negative and positive increments of magnetization of specimens initially exhibiting saturation magnetization or demagnetization by an external field have been measured and discussed on the basis of a model of thermal activation of remagnetization processes this study has been supported by the Sores fund (NYG000 Grant)).