Element specific vector magnetometry (ESVM) via soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism

Book · Fri Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995

OSTI ID:99488

Chakarian, V; Idzerda, Y U; Gutierrez, C J; Prinz, G A ^[1]; Lin, H J; Chaban, E E; Meigs, G; Park, J H; Chen, C T ^[2]

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1. Naval Research Lab., Washington, DC (United States)
2. AT and T Bell Labs., Murray Hill, NJ (United States)

Soft X-Ray Magnetic circular dichroism (SX-MCD) can be used to obtain element-specific magnetic hysteresis curves and to elucidate the two- and three-dimensional magnetization reversal processes for each constituent magnetic element of a heterogametic system. As a demonstration two systems which exhibit in-plane magnetization reversal are studied: a thin Fe (100) single-crystal film and a Fe{sub 1{minus}x}Co{sub x}/Mn/Fe{sub 1{minus}x}Co{sub x} trilayer. The results for both systems show that the magnetic moment vector reverses via a combination of coherent rotation toward the nearest in-plane magnetically easy axis followed by the formation of orthogonal <100> domains which rapidly sweep across the sample. In the case of the trilayer, the moment reversal process is significantly more complex due to a strong {approximately}90{degree} coupling between the magnetic moments of the two FeCo layers. By using element-specific vector magnetometry (ESVM), the details of this reversal process are revealed. Furthermore, the results of the SX-MCD for Mn show that Mn possesses a ferromagnetically aligned net magnetic moment which depicts a 2D magnetization behavior different than that for either Fe or Co.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH00016
• OSTI ID: 99488
• Report Number(s): CONF-941144--; ISBN 1-55899-277-4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
COBALT ALLOYS
COMPOSITE MATERIALS
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
IRON
IRON ALLOYS
LAYERS
MAGNETIC MOMENTS
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
MAGNETIZATION
MANGANESE