Measurement and modeling of polarized specular neutron reflectivity in large magnetic fields

Maranville, Brian B.; Kirby, Brian J.; Grutter, Alexander J.; Kienzle, Paul A.; Majkrzak, Charles F.; Liu, Yaohua; Dennis, Cindi L.

doi:10.1107/S1600576716007135

Title: Measurement and modeling of polarized specular neutron reflectivity in large magnetic fields

Journal Article · Thu Jun 09 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Applied Crystallography (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600576716007135· OSTI ID:1311226

Maranville, Brian B. ^[1]; Kirby, Brian J. ^[1]; Grutter, Alexander J. ^[1]; Kienzle, Paul A. ^[1]; Majkrzak, Charles F. ^[1]; Liu, Yaohua ^[2]; Dennis, Cindi L. ^[3]

National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States). Center for Neutron Research
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Quantum Condensed Matter Division
National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States). Material Measurement Lab.

The presence of a large applied magnetic field removes the degeneracy of the vacuum energy states for spin-up and spin-down neutrons. For polarized neutron reflectometry, this must be included in the reference potential energy of the Schrödinger equation that is used to calculate the expected scattering from a magnetic layered structure. For samples with magnetization that is purely parallel or antiparallel to the applied field which defines the quantization axis, there is no mixing of the spin states (no spin-flip scattering) and so this additional potential is constant throughout the scattering region. When there is non-collinear magnetization in the sample, however, there will be significant scattering from one spin state into the other, and the reference potentials will differ between the incoming and outgoing wavefunctions, changing the angle and intensities of the scattering. In conclusion, the theory of the scattering and recommended experimental practices for this type of measurement are presented, as well as an example measurement.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1311226

Journal Information:: Journal of Applied Crystallography (Online), Vol. 49, Issue 4; ISSN 1600-5767

Publisher:: International Union of CrystallographyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 10 works

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References (8)

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Vector magnetization depth profile of a Laves-phase exchange-coupled superlattice obtained using a combined approach of micromagnetic simulation and neutron reflectometry Fitzsimmons, M. R.; Park, S.; Dumesnil, K. Physical Review B, Vol. 73, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.73.134413	journal	April 2006
Phase-sensitive specular neutron reflectometry for imaging the nanometer scale composition depth profile of thin-film materials Kirby, B. J.; Kienzle, P. A.; Maranville, B. B. Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science, Vol. 17, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cocis.2011.11.001	journal	February 2012
Data representations of Zeeman spatial beam splitting in polarized neutron reflectometry Kozhevnikov, Sergey; Ott, Frédéric; Radu, Florin Journal of Applied Crystallography, Vol. 45, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1107/S0021889812018043	journal	July 2012
Polarization analysis of neutron reflectometry on non-collinear magnetic media: polarized neutron reflectometry experiments on a thin cobalt film van de Kruijs, R. W. E.; Fredrikze, H.; Rekveldt, M. Th Physica B: Condensed Matter, Vol. 283, Issue 1-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-4526(99)01935-3	journal	June 2000
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Cited By (1)

Optimization of reflectometry experiments using information theory Treece, Bradley W.; Kienzle, Paul A.; Hoogerheide, David P. Journal of Applied Crystallography, Vol. 52, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1107/s1600576718017016	journal	February 2019

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polarized neutron reflectometry
applied magnetic fields
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Title: Measurement and modeling of polarized specular neutron reflectivity in large magnetic fields

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