1s2p resonant inelastic x-ray scattering-magnetic circular dichroism: A sensitive probe of 3<i>d</i> magnetic moments using hard x-ray photons

Abstract

We investigated the magnetic properties of thin magnetite and iron films grown on MgO(001) by means of hard x-ray photon-in photon-out probe, namely, 1s2p resonant inelastic x-ray scattering-magnetic circular dichroism (RIXS-MCD). A comparison of the spectra acquired from bulk and thin layer magnetite samples reveals their nearly identical shape. Hysteresis loops measured with RIXS-MCD also show a close similarity to the vibrating sample magnetometer profiles supporting the conclusion that the technique can be applied for the quantitative analysis of element and site specific magnetization in buried films containing transition metal elements. We show that Fe 1s2p RIXS-MCD is insensitive to the magnetic signal of iron impurities naturally dispersed in monocrystalline MgO substrates. The latter, combined with a unique feature of resonant inelastic x-ray scattering, namely the ability to tune incident and emitted photon (transfer) energy, allows us to separate the dichroic signal of metal layers from that of ferrite and, thus, to independently probe the magnetization of metal and oxide layers in multilayer systems.