Non-collinear antiferromagnets are revealing many unexpected phenomena and they became crucial for the field of antiferromagnetic spintronics. To visualize and prepare a well-defined domain structure is of key importance. The spatial magnetic contrast, however, remains extraordinarily difficult to be observed experimentally. Here, we demonstrate a magnetic imaging technique based on a laser induced local thermal gradient combined with detection of the anomalous Nernst effect. We employ this method in one the most actively studied representatives of this class of materials-Mn3Sn. We demonstrate that the observed contrast is of magnetic origin. We further show an algorithm to prepare a well-defined domain pattern at room temperature based on heat assisted recording principle. Our study opens up a prospect to study spintronics phenomena in non-collinear antiferromagnets with spatial resolution.

Faculty of Mathematics and Physics Charles University Ke Karlovu 3 121 16 Prague 2 Czech Republic

Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research Bautzner Landstraße 400 01328 Dresden Germany

Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory Cambridge CB3 0HE UK

Institut für Festkörper und Materialphysik and Würzburg Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct qmat Technische Universität Dresden 01062 Dresden Germany

Institute of Physics Czech Academy of Sciences Cukrovarnická 10 162 00 Praha 6 Czech Republic

Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids Nöthnitzer Straße 40 01187 Dresden Germany

School of Physics and Astronomy University of Nottingham NG7 2RD Nottingham UK

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