Imaging Self-Organized Domains at the Micron Scale in Antiferromagnetic Elemental Cr Using Magnetic X-ray Microscopy

摘要

The domains of antiferromagnetic order in elemental chromium can be observed with spatial resolution that is improved by orders of magnitude in comparison with previous techniques using magnetic x-ray scattering with an incident x-ray beam focused to a submicron spot. This use of magnetic x-ray microscopy takes advantage of the incommensurate spin density wave order in Cr to isolate magnetic scattering. The spin polarization dependence of the magnetic x-ray scattering cross section allows the first order spin-flip transition near 120 K to be imaged directly.