Resonant magnetic X-ray scattering at the lanthanide M-5 edges

摘要

Magnetic soft X-ray scattering at the Ho M-5 resonance was characterized using thin films, thus reducing the effect of the strong photon absorption. Magnetic scattering factors are found to be as large as 200r(0) at resonance, while the effective probing depth of the X-rays at the resonance maximum is of the order of 30 Angstrom at 2theta = 25degrees. The huge enhancement of magnetic scattering allows one to study ultrathin Ho films, which is exploited to investigate the thickness dependence of the Neel temperature in these long-period antiferromagnets. The tunable X-ray penetration depth across the resonance can be used for magnetic depth profiling, e.g. to study the depth-dependent growth of antiferromagnetic domains across the ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic phase transition in Dy metal films. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.