L. Deák

Calculation of nuclear resonant scattering spectra of magnetic multilayers

We report on calculations of the angle- and time-dependent photon reflectivity of multilayers using the technique of characteristic matrices. Spectra of56Fe/57Fe and Cr/Fe multilayers are calculated under various conditions. The parameters of the multilayers are optimized for suitable test samples of reflectometry measurements.

Layer magnetization canting in 57Fe/FeSi multilayer observed by synchrotron Mössbauer reflectometry

Synchrotron Mössbauer reflectometry and CEMS results on a [57Fe(2.55 nm)/FeSi\break(1.57 nm)]10 multilayer (ML) on a Zerodur substrate are reported. CEMS spectra are satisfactorily fitted by α‐Fe and an interface layer of random α‐(Fe, Si) alloy of 20% of the 57Fe layer thickness on both sides of the individual Fe layers. Kerr loops show a fully compensated AF magnetic layer structure. Prompt X‐ray reflectivity curves show the structural ML Bragg peak and Kiessig oscillations corresponding to a bilayer period and total film thickness of 4.12 and 41.2 nm, respectively. Grazing incidence nuclear resonant Θ–2Θ scans and time spectra (E = 14.413 keV, λ = 0.0860 nm) were recorded in different external magnetic fields (0 < Bext < 0.95 T) perpendicular to the scattering plane. The time integral delayed nuclear Θ–2Θ scans reveal the magnetic ML period doubling. With increasing transversal external magnetic field, the antiferromagnetic ML Bragg peak disappears due to Fe layer magnetization canting, the extent of which is calculated from the fit of the time spectra and the Θ–2Θ scans using an optical approach. In a weak external field the Fe layer magnetization directions are neither parallel with nor perpendicular to the external field. We suggest that the interlayer coupling in [Fe/FeSi]10 varies with the distance from the substrate and the ML consists of two magnetically distinct regions, being of ferromagnetic character near substrate and antiferromagnetic closer to the surface.

Synchrotron Mössbauer Reflectometry in Materials Science

57Fe nuclear resonant scattering experiments are reported on iron-containing thin films using 14.41 keV synchrotron radiation at angles of grazing incidence around and slightly above the critical angle of the electronic total reflection. In partially oxidised α–Fe films of 20 nm original thickness various oxide and oxihydroxide phases are identified at different depth. In a [Fe/FeSi]10multilayer grown on Zerodur®substrate the Fe—Fe interlayer coupling varies with the distance from the substrate. The antiferromagnetic order of the top layers of this multilayer can be suppressed by external magnetic field. These examples demonstrate the efficiency of synchrotron Mossbauer reflectometry (SMR), a new method capable of depth profiling the hyperfine interactions on a nm scale.

Switching reciprocity on and off in a magneto-optical x-ray scattering experiment using nuclear resonance of α-(57)Fe foils.

Reciprocity is when the scattering amplitude of wave propagation satisfies a symmetry property, connecting a scattering process with an appropriate reversed one. We report on an experiment using nuclear resonance scattering of synchrotron radiation, which demonstrates that magneto-optical materials do not necessarily violate reciprocity. The setting enables us to switch easily between reciprocity and its violation. In the latter case, the exhibited reciprocity violation is orders of magnitude larger than achieved by previous wave scattering experiments.

Recent Developments in Synchrotron Mössbauer Reflectometry

Synchrotron Mössbauer Reflectometry (SMR), the grazing incidence nuclear resonant scattering of synchrotron radiation, can be applied to perform depth-selective phase analysis and to determine the isotopic and magnetic structure of thin films and multilayers. Principles and methodological aspects of SMR are briefly reviewed. Off-specular SMR provides information from the lateral structure of multilayers. In anti-ferromagneticly coupled systems the size of magnetic domains can be measured.

Off-specular synchrotron Mossbauer reflectometry: A novel tool for studying the domain structure in antiferromagnetic multilayers

The off-specular (diffuse) nuclear resonant reflectivity of synchrotron radiation is a sensitive measure of the lateral autocorrelation of the magnetisation in thin films and multilayers. The width of the diffuse scattering peak measured at an electronically forbidden reflection is inversely proportional to the in-plane correlation length of the magnetisation direction. The average size of the in-plane antiferromagnetic domains is determined in different states of the same Fe/Cr superlattice. The hyperfine magnetic fields in coexisting small and large domains are measured independently.

Realizing total reciprocity violation in the phase for photon scattering

Reciprocity is when wave or quantum scattering satisfies a symmetry property, connecting a scattering process with the reversed one. While reciprocity involves the interchange of source and detector, it is fundamentally different from rotational invariance, and is a generalization of time reversal invariance, occurring in absorptive media as well. Due to its presence at diverse areas of physics, it admits a wide variety of applications. For polarization dependent scatterings, reciprocity is often violated, but violation in the phase of the scattering amplitude is much harder to experimentally observe than violation in magnitude. Enabled by the advantageous properties of nuclear resonance scattering of synchrotron radiation, we have measured maximal, i.e., 180-degree, reciprocity violation in the phase. For accessing phase information, we introduced a new version of stroboscopic detection. The scattering setting was devised based on a generalized reciprocity theorem that opens the way to construct new types of reciprocity related devices.

Angular dependence, blackness and polarization effects in integral conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy

Abstract General expressions of the electron yield in 57Fe integral conversion electron Mossbauer spectroscopy were derived depending on the glancing angle of the γ photons, on the source polarization and on the isotopic abundance of the source and the absorber (blackness effects) using an exponential escape function of the electrons originating from all Mossbauer-resonance-related processes. The present approach provides a firm theoretical basis to determine the alignment and direction of magnetization in the absorber. The intensity formulae were justified by least squares fits of α-57Fe spectral intensities measured in linearly and elliptically polarized source and absorber geometries. The fits reproduce the experimentally set angles with high accuracy. Limits of the current approach and its relation to other, less complete treatments in the literature are discussed.

Specular and off-specular synchrotron Mossbauer reflectometry: Applications to thin film magnetism

Synchrotron Mossbauer Reflectometry (SMR) is a novel tool for studying the magnetic structure of multilayers. The orientation of the layer magnetisation in an antiferromagnetically coupled multilayer is determined from the intensity of the pure nuclear reflection in specular time-integral SMR experiments. The value of the saturation field is estimated with high accuracy. The bulk spin-flop transition in an Fe/Cr superlattice of fourfold in-plane magnetocrystalline anisotropy is demonstrated. The width of the off-specular (diffuse) scattering peak is a measure of the in-plane antiferromagnetic domain size. The domain correlation length of 2.6 μm measured in remanence on the Fe/Cr superlattice following magnetic saturation is in good agreement with semi-empirical model calculations.

Interlayer exchange coupling, crystalline and magnetic structure in Fe/CsCl–FeSi multilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Crystalline and magnetic structure as well as the interlayer exchange coupling in MBE grown Fe/FeSi multilayers are investigated. From conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy and ion beam channeling measurements the spacer FeSi material is found to be stabilized in a crystalline metastable metallic FeSi phase with the CsCl structure. Strong non-oscillatory interlayer exchange coupling is identified with magnetometry and synchrotron Mössbauer reflectometry. From the fits of the time spectrum and the resonant ϕ—ϕ scans a model for the sublayer magnetization of the multilayer is deduced.