  Time-resolved scanning Kerr microscopy has been used to directly image the
magnetization dynamics of nano-contact (NC) spin-torque vortex oscillators
(STVOs) when phase-locked to an injected microwave (RF) current. The Kerr
images reveal free layer magnetization dynamics that extend outside the NC
footprint, where they cannot be detected electrically, but which are crucial to
phase-lock STVOs that share common magnetic layers. For a single NC, dynamics
were observed not only when the STVO frequency was fully locked to that of the
RF current, but also for a partially locked state characterized by periodic
changes in the core trajectory at the RF frequency. For a pair of NCs, images
reveal the spatial character of dynamics that electrical measurements show to
have enhanced amplitude and reduced linewidth. Insight gained from these images
may improve understanding of the conditions required for mutual phase-locking
of multiple STVOs, and hence enhanced microwave power emission.
