The transverse magneto-optical Kerr effect (T-MOKE) in the soft X-ray regime is used to investigate the magnetic properties of ultrathin epitaxial Fe(110) films and thermally created epitaxial Fe islands on W(110). The measurements have been carried out at the Fe 2p core levels with tunable, linearly polarized synchrotron radiation. Besides the chemical selectivity T-MOKE at core levels is characterized by a much larger sensitivity compared to the visible regime. We have analyzed the transition from thin films to a three-dimensional island system at a thickness of 4 ML and the magnetic behavior when increasing the iron coverage to 8 ML. The Fe island system is characterized by a rotation of the easy magnetization axis in this coverage regime.
AbstractA brief discussion of the resonant magnetic scattering process is given. Results from recent studies of thin Fe films and Fe/Gd multilayers are used as examples to demonstrate the information can be obtained and the unique features of this technique: large resonant enhancement, sensitivity to magnitization, elemental specificity, and tunability of the penetration depth. Comparison is made with related techniques: magneto-optical Kerr effect, Faraday effect, and magnetic circular dichroism.
Electronic structure of charge-orderedFe3O4from calculated optical, magneto-optical Kerr effect, and OK-edge x-ray absorption spectra