Soft x-ray microscopy - a powerful analytical tool to image magnetism down to fundamental length and times scales

Journal Article · Fri Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 2008 · AAPPS Bulletin

OSTI ID:940774

Fischer, Peter

The magnetic properties of low dimensional solid state matter is of the utmost interest both scientifically as well as technologically. In addition to the charge of the electron which is the base for current electronics, by taking into account the spin degree of freedom in future spintronics applications open a new avenue. Progress towards a better physical understanding of the mechanism and principles involved as well as potential applications of nanomagnetic devices can only be achieved with advanced analytical tools. Soft X-ray microscopy providing a spatial resolution towards 10nm, a time resolution currently in the sub-ns regime and inherent elemental sensitivity is a very promising technique for that. This article reviews the recent achievements of magnetic soft X-ray microscopy by selected examples of spin torque phenomena, stochastical behavior on the nanoscale and spin dynamics in magnetic nanopatterns. The future potential with regard to addressing fundamental magnetic length and time scales, e.g. imaging fsec spin dynamics at upcoming X-ray sources is pointed out.

• Research Organization: Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: Materials Sciences Division
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 940774
• Report Number(s): LBNL-962E
• Journal Information: AAPPS Bulletin, Journal Name: AAPPS Bulletin
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ELECTRONS
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
MAGNETISM
MICROSCOPY
SENSITIVITY
SPATIAL RESOLUTION
SPIN
TIME RESOLUTION
TORQUE
X-RAY SOURCES