  Recently synthesized magnetic multilayers with strong perpendicular
anisotropy exhibit unique magnetic properties including the formation of
specific multidomain states. In particular, antiferromagnetically coupled
multilayers own rich phase diagrams that include various multidomain ground
states. Analytical equations have been derived for the stray-field components
of these multidomain states in perpendicular multilayer systems. In particular,
closed expressions for stray fields in the case of ferromagnetic and
antiferromagnetic stripes are presented. The theoretical approach provides a
basis for the analysis of magnetic force microscopy (MFM) images from this
novel class of nanomagnetic systems. Peculiarities of the MFM contrast have
been calculated for realistic tip models. These characteristic features in the
MFM signals can be employed for the investigations of the different multidomain
modes. The obtained results are applied for the analysis of multidomain modes
that have been reported earlier in the literature from experiments on [Co/Cr]Ru
superlattices.
