X-ray absorption and x-ray magnetic dichroism study on Ca3CoRhO6 and Ca3FeRhO6
T. Burnus, Z. Hu, Hua Wu, J. C. Cezar, S. Niitaka, H. Takagi, C. F. Chang, N. B. Brookes, H. -J. Lin, L. Y. Jang, A. Tanaka, K. S. Liang, C. T. Chen, L. H. Tjeng
Using x-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Rh-L_2,3, Co-L_2,3, and Fe-L_2,3 edges, we find a valence state of Co^2+/Rh^4+ in Ca3CoRhO6 and of Fe^3+/Rh^3+ in Ca3FeRhO6. X-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy at the Co-L_2,3 edge of Ca3CoRhO6 reveals a giant orbital moment of about 1.7mu_B, which can be attributed to the occupation of the minority-spin d_0d_2 orbital state of the high-spin Co^2+ (3d^7) ions in trigonal prismatic coordination. This active role of the spin-orbit coupling explains the strong magnetocrystalline anisotropy and Ising-like magnetism of Ca3CoRhO6.
Soft x-ray linear and circular dichroism (XLD, XMCD) experiments at the Ce M$_{4,5}$ edges are being used to determine the energy scales characterizing the Ce $4f$ degrees of freedom in the ultrathin ordered surface intermetallic CeAg$_x$/Ag(111). We find that all relevant interactions, i. e. Kondo scattering, crystal field splitting and magnetic exchange coupling occur on small scales. Our study demonstrates the usefulness of combining x-ray absorption experiments probing linear and circular dichroism owing to their strong sensitivity for anisotropies in both charge distribution and paramagne…
We study the directional dichroic absorption spectra in the x-ray region in a polar ferrimagnet GaFeO_3. The directional dichroism on the absorption spectra at the Fe pre-K-edge arises from the E1-E2 interference process through the hybridization between the 4p and 3d states in the noncentrosymmetric environment of Fe atoms. We perform a microscopic calculation of the spectra on a model of FeO_6 with reasonable parameter values for Coulomb interaction and hybridizations. We obtain the difference in the absorption coefficients when the magnetic field is applied parallel and antiparallel to the …
We have investigated the valence, spin, and orbital state of the Co ions in the one-dimensional cobaltate Ca3Co2O6 using x-ray absorption and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism at the Co-L2,3 edges. The Co ions at both the octahedral Co_oct and trigonal Co_trig sites are found to be in a 3+ state. From the analysis of the dichroism we established a low-spin state for the Co_oct and a high-spin state with an anomalously large orbital moment of 1.7 muB at the Co3+ trig ions. This large orbital moment along the c-axis chain and the unusually large magnetocrystalline anisotropy can be traced back t…
We report on a combined soft x-ray absorption and magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) study at the Co-$L_{3,2}$ on the hybrid 3$d$/5$d$ solid state oxide Sr$_2$Co$_{0.5}$Ir$_{0.5}$O$_4$ with the K$_2$NiF$_4$ structure. Our data indicate unambiguously a pure high spin state $(S=2)$ for the Co$^{3+}$ (3$d^6$) ions with a significant unquenched orbital moment $L_z/2S_z=0.25$ despite the sizeable elongation of the CoO$_6$ octahedra. Using quantitative model calculations based on parameters consistent with our spectra, we have investigated the stability of this high spin state with respect to the co…
We have studied the local electronic structure of LaMn0.5Co0.5O3 using soft-x-ray absorption spectroscopy at the Co-L_3,2 and Mn-L_3,2 edges. We found a high-spin Co^{2+}--Mn^{4+} valence state for samples with the optimal Curie temperature. We discovered that samples with lower Curie temperatures contain low-spin nonmagnetic Co^{3+} ions. Using soft-x-ray magnetic circular dichroism we established that the Co^{2+} and Mn^{4+} ions are ferromagnetically aligned. We revealed also that the Co^{2+} ions have a large orbital moment: m_orb/m_spin ~ 0.47. Together with model calculations, this sugge…
We report a combined study for the electronic structures of ferromagnetic CeAgSb$_2$ using soft X-ray absorption (XAS), magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), and angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) spectroscopies. The Ce $M_{4, 5}$ XAS spectra show very small satellite structures, reflecting a strongly localized character of the Ce $4f$ electrons. The linear dichroism effects in the Ce $M_{4, 5}$ XAS spectra demonstrate the ground state Ce $4f$ symmetry of $Γ{_6}$, the spatial distribution of which is directed along the $c$-axis. The XMCD results give support to the picture of local-moment magn…
Recently, a general formalism was presented for gyrotropic, ferroelectric, and multipolar order in spin-orbit coupled metals induced by spin-spin interactions. Here, I point out that the resulting order parameters are equivalent to expectation values of operators that determine natural circular dichroic signals in optical and x-ray absorption. Some general properties of these operator equivalents and the resulting dichroisms are mentioned, and I list several material examples in this connection, including Weyl semimetals. The particular case of the tensor order in the pyrochlore superconductor…
The origin of the Kerr rotation observed in the pseudogap phase of cuprates has been the subject of much speculation. Recently, it has been proposed that this rotation might be due to chiral charge order. Here, I investigate whether such order can be observed by x-ray natural circular dichroism (XNCD). Several types of charge order were considered, and they can give rise to an XNCD signal depending on the stacking of the order along the c-axis.
It is proven that the sum rules for X-ray magnetic dichroism (XMCD) spectra that are used to separate spin and orbital contributions to the magnetic moment are formally correct for an arbitrary strength of electron-electron interactions. However, their practical application for strongly correlated systems can become complicated due to the spectral density weight spreading over a broad energy interval. Relevance of incoherent spectral density for the XMCD sum rules is illustrated by a simple model of a ferromagnet with orbital degrees of freedom.
We present measurements of optical interband absorption in the fractional quantum Hall regime in a GaAs quantum well in the range 0 < nu < 1. We investigate the mechanism of singlet trion absorption, and show that its circular dichroism can be used as a probe of the spin polarization of the ground state of the two-dimensional electron system (2DES). We find that at nu = 1/3 the 2DES is fully spin-polarized. Increasing the filling factor results in a gradual depolarization, with a sharp minimum in the dichroism near nu = 2/3. We find that in the range 0.5 < nu < 0.85 the 2DES remains partially …
Magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) in the x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at the L2,3 edges for almost entire series of rare-earth (RE) elements in RE2Fe14B, is studied experimentally and theoretically. By a quantitative comparison of the complicated MCD spectral shapes, we find that (i) the 4f-5d intra-atomic exchange interaction not only induces the spin and orbital polarization of the 5d states, which is vital for the MCD spectra of the electric dipole transition from the 2p core states to the empty 5d conduction band, but also it accompanies a contraction of the radial part of the 5d wa…
We use x-ray absorption spectroscopy as well as its linear and circular magnetic dichroisms to characterize relevant interactions and energy scales in the surface intermetallic CePt$_5$/Pt(111). The experiments provide insight into crystal field splitting, effective paramagnetic moments, their Kondo screening and mutual interactions and thus into many aspects which typically determine the low temperature behavior of correlated rare earth compounds. Exploiting the tuneability of Ce valence through the thickness dependent epitaxial strain at the CePt$_5$/Pt(111) interface, we are able to systema…
Nonresonant inelastic x-ray scattering (NIXS) has been performed on single crystals of UO$_2$ to study the direction dependence of higher-order-multipole scattering from the uranium $O_{4,5}$ edges (90--110 eV). By comparing the experimental results with theoretical calculations the symmetry of the ground state is confirmed directly as the crystal-field (CF) $Γ_5$ triplet state within the $J$ = 4 manifold. The results also demonstrate that the directional dichroism of the NIXS spectra is sensitive to the CF strength and establish NIXS as a tool for probing CF interactions quantitatively.
We found that the conventional model of orbital ordering of 3x^2-r^2/3y^2-r^2 type in the eg states of La_0.5Sr_1.5MnO_4 is incompatible with measurements of linear dichroism in the Mn 2p-edge x-ray absorption, whereas these eg states exhibit predominantly cross-type orbital ordering of x^2-z^2/y^2-z^2. LDA+U band-structure calculations reveal that such a cross-type orbital ordering results from a combined effect of antiferromagnetic structure, Jahn-Teller distortion, and on-site Coulomb interactions.
Ca_1-xSr_xRuO_3, which is ferromagnetic for Sr concentration x > 0.3, has been studied by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) in Ru 3p and O 1s core-level x-ray absorption. XMCD signals appear at x ~ 0.3 and monotonically increases with x in the ferromagnetic phase. While the monotonic increase of the XMCD signals with x is of a typical Stoner-type, the absence of appreciable change in the spectral line shapes of both the Ru 3p and O 1s XMCD spectra indicate that the itinerant-electron ferromagnetism in Ca_1-xSr_xRuO_3 is influenced by strong electron correlation.
A microscopic model for the room-temperature multiferroic BiFeO$_3$ that includes two Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions and single-ion anisotropy along the ferroelectric polarization predicts both the zero-field spectroscopic modes as well as their splitting and evolution in a magnetic field. Due to simultaneously broken time-reversal and spatial-inversion symmetries, the absorption of light changes as the magnetic field or the direction of light propagation is reversed. We discuss three physical mechanisms that may contribute to this absorption asymmetry known as non-reciprocal directional d…
We have probed the crystalline electric-field ground states of pure $|J = 7/2, J_z = \pm 5/2\rangle$ as well as the anisotropic $c$-$f$ hybridization in both valence fluctuating systems $α$- and $β$-YbAlB$_4$ by linear polarization dependence of angle-resolved core level photoemission spectroscopy. Interestingly, the small but distinct difference between \abyb was found in the polar angle dependence of linear dichroism, indicating the difference in the anisotropy of $c$-$f$ hybridization which may be essential to a heavy Fermi liquid state in $α$-YbAlB$_4$ and a quantum critical state in $β$-Y…
We have investigated the orbital states of the orbital-glassy (short-range orbital ordered) spinel vanadate Co$_{1.21}$V$_{1.79}$O$_{4}$ using x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), and subsequent configuration-interaction cluster-model calculation. From the sign of the XMCD spectra, it was found that the spin magnetic moment of the Co ion is aligned parallel to the applied magnetic field and that of the V ion anti-parallel to it, consistent with neutron scattering studies. It was revealed that the excess Co ions at the octahedral site take the trivalent…
The magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) has recently been discovered in antiferromagnetic Kagome lattice Mn3Sn. Since the compound exhibits a coplanar $120^\circ$ antiferromagnetic (AFM) order, the magnetic moments cancel each other, and the net magnetization is almost zero. However, the MOKE is allowed due to the lack of the time-reversal symmetry (TRS) of the AFM order. X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) can detect a difference in up and down the spin density of states (DOS), and thus XMCD originating from the spin operator, the so-called Sz term, should be negligibly small as well as t…
We present a discussion of published x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements performed at the uranium M_4,5 edges of metallic uranium compounds, focusing on the shape of the dichroic signal at the M_5 edge. A well resolved double lobe structure, comprised of a positive and a negative peak, is sometimes observed. Out of the twelve metallic uranium compounds so far investigated by XMCD, six exhibit an intense double-lobe structure at the M_5 edge. This line shape gives information on the empty 5f magnetic density of states with angular quantum number j=7/2. Conclusions about the di…
We report a study of the local magnetism in thin films of SrRuO3 grown on (111) and (001) oriented SrTiO3 substrates using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy (XMCD) at the Ru-L2,3 edges. The application of the sum rules to the XMCD data gives an almost quenched orbital moment and a spin moment close to the value expected for the low spin state S = 1 . Full-multiplet cluster calculations indicate that the low spin state is quite stable and suggest that the occurrence of a transition to the high spin state S = 2 in strained thin films of SrRuO3 is unlikely as it would be too expensiv…
The origin of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at the Cu L2,3 edge in YBa2Cu3O7/La(1-x)Ca(x)MnO3 superlattices is revealed by performing first-principle electronic structure calculation using fully-relativistic spin-polarized linear muffin-tin orbital and projected augmented plane wave methods. We show that the XMCD spectra at the Cu L2,3 edges are proportional to the difference of the densities of majority- and minority-spin Cu 3z2-1 states. Although the Cu 3z2-1 states lie well below the Fermi level, a small number of majority-spin 3z2-1 holes is created by the Cu 3z2-1 - O p_z - Mn …
We have studied magnetism in anatase Ti$_{1-x}$Co$_x$O$_{2-δ}$ ({\it x} = 0.05) thin films with various electron carrier densities, by soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements at the Co $L_{2,3}$ absorption edges. For electrically conducting samples, the magnetic moment estimated by XMCD was $<$ 0.3 $μ_B$/Co using the surface-sensitive total electron yield (TEY) mode, while it was 0.3-2.4 $μ_B$/Co using the bulk-sensitive total fluorescence yield (TFY) mode. The latter value is in the same range as the saturation magnetization 0.6-2.1 $μ_B$/Co deduced by SQUID measurement. Th…
The actinide cubic Laves compounds NpAl2, NpOs2, NpFe2, and PuFe2 have been examined by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at the actinide M4,5 absorption edges and Os L2,3 absorption edges. The XMCD experiments performed at the M4,5 absorption edges of Np and Pu allow us to determine the spectroscopic branching ratio, which gives information on the coupling scheme in these materials. In all materials the intermediate coupling scheme is found appropriate. Comparison with the SQUID data for NpOs2 and PuFe2 allows a determination of the individual orbital and spin magnetic moments and the …
The theoretical description of photoemission spectra of transition metals was greatly improved recently by accounting for the correlations between the d electrons within the local spin density approximation (LSDA) plus dynamical mean field theory (DMFT). We assess the improvement of the LSDA+DMFT over the plain LSDA in x-ray absorption spectroscopy, which --- unlike the photoemission spectroscopy --- is probing unocccupied electronic states. By investigating the L2,3-edge x-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) of Fe, Co, and Ni, we find that t…
Near-infrared magnetic linear and non-reciprocal directional dichroism in the chiral antiferromagnet SmFe3(BO3)4
Budapest University of Technology and Economics（布达佩斯技术与经济大学）；Semilab Semiconductor Physincs Laboratory Co. Ltd.（Semilab半导体物理实验室有限公司）；L. V. Kirensky Institute of Physics Siberian Branch of RAS（俄罗斯科学院西伯利亚分院 L.V. 基连斯基物理研究所）；HUN-REN–BME Condensed Matter Physics Research Group, Budapest University of Technology and Economics（匈牙利研究与创新网络-布达佩斯技术与经济大学凝聚态物理研究组）；Institute of Solid State Physics, TU Wien（维也纳工业大学固体物理研究所）
We investigate a dynamical magnetoelectric effect due to a magnetic resonance in helical spin structures through the coupling between magnetization and electric polarization via a spin current mechanism. We show that the magnon has both the dynamical magnetic moment $ΔM^ω$ and the electric moment $ΔP^ω$ ($\perp ΔM^ω$), i.e., a dynamical toroidal moment, under external magnetic fields, and thus it is named the {\em toroidalmagnon}. The toroidalmagnon exists in most conical spin structures owing to the generality of the spin current mechanism. In the absorption of electromagnetic waves, the toro…
X-ray magnetic circular dichroism evidence of intrinsic $d$-wave altermagnetism in rutile-structure NiF$_2$
University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学）；Osaka Metropolitan University（大阪公立大学）；Diamond Light Source（钻石光源）；University of Oxford（牛津大学）；Pohang University of Science and Technology（浦项科技大学）
Epitaxial thin films of undoped LaCoO$_{3}$\@, of electron-doped La$_{0.7}$Ce$_{0.3}$CoO$_{3}$\@, and of hole-doped La$_{0.7}$Sr$_{0.3}$CoO$_{3}$\@ exhibit ferromagnetic order with a transition temperature $T_{\rm{C}}$ $\approx$ 85 K, 22 K, and 240 K, respectively. The spin-state structure for these compounds was studied by soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism at the Co $L_{2,3}$ and O $K$ edges. It turns out that a higher spin state of the Co$^{3+}$ ions is responsible for the magnetism in LaCoO$_{3}$\@ while for La$_{0.7}$Ce$_{0.3}$CoO$_{3}$ the Co$^{3+}$ ions are in a low-spin state and t…
The coexisting magnetic and ferroelectric orders in multiferroic materials give rise to a handful of novel magnetoelectric phenomena, such as the absorption difference for the opposite propagation directions of light called the non-reciprocal directional dichroism (NDD). Usually these effects are restricted to low temperature, where the multiferroic phase develops. In this paper we report the observation of NDD in the paramagnetic phase of Sr2CoSi2O7 up to temperatures more than ten times higher than its Néel temperature (7 K) and in fields up to 30 T. The magnetically induced polarization and…
The electronic structure and the magnetism of the novel ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Fe)Sb, whose Curie temperature $T_{\rm C}$ can exceed room temperature, were investigated by means of x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), and resonance photoemission spectroscopy (RPES). The line-shape analyses of the XAS and XMCD spectra suggest that the ferromagnetism is of intrinsic origin. The orbital magnetic moments deduced using XMCD sum rules were found to be large, indicating that there is a considerable amount of 3$d^{6}$ contribution to the ground state …
We have performed x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements on the iron-based superconductor Sr$_2$VFeAsO$_{3-δ}$ to study the origin of weak ferromagnetism (WFM) reported for this compound. While Fe 3$d$ electrons show a magnetic response similar to the other iron pnictides, signals from V 3$d$ electrons remain finite at zero magnetic field and may be responsible for the WFM.
A recent polarized x-ray absorption experiment on the high temperature cuprate superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 indicates the presence of broken parity symmetry below the temperature, T*, where a pseudogap appears in photoemission. We critically analyze the x-ray data, and conclude that a parity-breaking signal of the kind suggested is unlikely based on the crystal structures reported in the literature. Possible other origins of the observed dichroism signal are discussed. We propose x-ray scattering experiments that can be done in order to determine whether such alternative interpretations are va…
We theoretically investigate the origin of the x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) spectra at the K edges of Mn and Ga in the ferromagnetic phase of Mn3GaC on the basis of an ab initio calculation. Taking account of the spin-orbit interaction in the LDA scheme, we obtain the XMCD spectra in excellent agreement with the recent experiment. We have analyzed the origin of each structure, and thus elucidated the mechanism of inducing the orbital polarization in the p symmetric states. We also discuss a simple sum rule connecting the XMCD spectra with the orbital moment in the p symmetric state…
X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) is generally not observed for antiferromagnetic (AFM) states because XMCD signals from the antiparallelly coupled spins cancel each other. In this letter, we theoretically show the presence of an XMCD signal from compensated two-dimensional triangle AFM structures on a Kagome lattice. The calculation reveals the complete correspondence between the XMCD spectra and the sign of the spin chirality: the XMCD signal only appears when the spin chirality is negative. This XMCD signal originates from the different absorption coefficients of the three sublattice…
We report resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) excited by circularly polarized x-rays on Mn-Zn ferrite at the Mn L2,3-resonances. We demonstrate that crystal field excitations, as expected for localized systems, dominate the RIXS spectra and thus their dichroic asymmetry cannot be interpreted in terms of spin-resolved partial density of states, which has been the standard approach for RIXS dichroism. We observe large dichroic RIXS at the L2-resonance which we attribute to the absence of metallic core hole screening in the insulating Mn-ferrite. On the other hand, reduced L3-RIXS dichrois…
The angular dependence (x-ray linear dichroism) of the Cr K pre-edge in MgAl2O4:Cr3+ spinel is measured by means of x-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy (XANES) and compared to calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) and ligand field multiplet theory (LFM). We also present an efficient method, based on symmetry considerations, to compute the dichroism of the cubic crystal starting from the dichroism of a single substitutional site. DFT shows that the electric dipole transitions do not contribute to the features visible in the pre-edge and provides a clear vision of t…
We study the spin-dependent electronic structure of UTe and UT_{2}Si_{2} (T=Cu and Mn) compounds with a combination of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurements and first principle calculations. By exploiting the presence of sizable quadrupolar and dipolar contributions to the U L_{2,3}-edge x-ray absorption cross section we are able to provide unique information on the extent of hybridization between 5f and 6d/3d electronic states, a key parameter regulating the physical properties of all actinide materials. Since this information is hardly accessible to other probes, the new methodology…
We report on the growth and characterization of ferromagnetic Gd-doped EuO thin films. We prepared samples with Gd concentrations up to 11% by means of molecular beam epitaxy under distillation conditions, which allows a very precise control of the doping concentration and oxygen stoichiometry. Using soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism at the Eu and Gd M4,5 edges, we found that the Curie temperature ranged from 69 K for pure stoichiometric EuO to about 170 K for the film with the optimal Gd doping of around 4%. We also show that the Gd magnetic moment couples ferromagnetically to that of Eu…
We have performed x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and valence-band photoemission studies of the diluted ferromagnetic semiconductor Zn$_{1-x}$Cr$_x$Te. XMCD signals due to ferromagnetism were observed at the Cr 2p absorption edge. Comparison with atomic multiplet calculations suggests that the magnetically active component of the Cr ion was divalent under the tetrahedral crystal field with tetragonal distortion along the crystalline a-, b-, and c-axes. In the valence-band spectra, spectral weight near the Fermi level was strongly suppressed, suggesting the importance of Jahn-Teller ef…
The chiral optical absorption by a single vortex in a p_x \pm i p_y-wave superconductor is studied theoretically. The p_x \pm i p_y-wave state was recently suggested as the symmetry of the order parameter of Sr_2 Ru O_4 superconductor. Due to the violation of time reversal symmetry, there are two types of vortices whose winding orientation is the same or opposite to the angular momentum of the Cooper pair. In a real material domains with p_x \pm i p_y-wave states are expected. However, optical absorption of circular polarized light depends only on the winding of the vortex and has a low energy…
A detailed theoretical study on the electronic structure and magnetic properties of half-metallic ferromagnet CrO$_2$ was carried out by means of relativistic full-potential linear muffin-tin orbital method within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) to the exchange correlation potential. Our calculation favours the [001] magnetization axis to be the easy axis of magnetization when compared to the [100] axis which is in agreement with the experiments. The calculated spin and orbital magnetic moments of Cr agrees well with the experimental and other theoretical works. The Cr L$_{2,3}$ x…
We report on x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) studies of the paramagnetic (Mn,Co)-co-doped ZnO and ferromagnetic (Fe,Co)-co-doped ZnO nano-particles. Both the surface-sensitive total-electron-yield mode and the bulk-sensitive total-fluorescence-yield mode have been employed to extract the valence and spin states of the surface and inner core regions of the nano-particles. XAS spectra reveal that significant part of the doped Mn and Co atoms are found in the trivalent and tetravalent state in particular in the surface region while majority of Fe a…
Surface magnetic properties of perovskite manganites have been a recurrent topic during last years since they play a major role in the implementation of magnetoelectronic devices. Magneto-optical techniques, such as X-ray magnetic circular dichroism, turn out to be a very efficient tool to study surface magnetism due to their sensitivity to magnetic and chemical variations across the sample depth. Nevertheless, the application of the sum rules for the determination of the spin magnetic moment might lead to uncertainties as large as 40% in case of Mn ions. To overcome this problem we present an…
We have investigated the electronic structure of ZnO:Mn and ZnO:Mn,N thin films using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) and resonance-photoemission spectroscopy. From the Mn 2$p$$\rightarrow3d$ XMCD results, it is shown that, while XMCD signals only due to paramagnetic Mn$^{2+}$ ions were observed in ZnO:Mn, nonmagnetic, paramagnetic and ferromagnetic Mn$^{2+}$ ions coexist in ZnO:Mn,N. XMCD signals of ZnO:Mn,N revealed that the localized Mn$^{2+}$ ground state and Mn$^{2+}$ state hybridized with ligand hole coexisted, implying $p$-$d$ exchange coupling. In the valence-band spectra, spe…
In order to investigate the mechanism of ferromagnetic ordering in the new n-type magnetic semiconductor (In,Fe)As co-doped with Be, we have performed X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) studies of ferromagnetic and paramagnetic samples. The spectral line shapes suggest that the ferromagnetism is intrinsic originating from Fe atoms incorporated into the Zinc-blende-type InAs lattice. The magnetization curves of Fe measured by XMCD were well reproduced by the superposition of a Langevin function representing superparamagnetic (SPM) behavior of nano-scale f…
Metallic transition-metal oxides undergo a metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) as the film thickness decreases across a ritical thickness of several monolayers (MLs), but its driving mechanism remains controversial. We have studied the thickness-dependent MIT of the ferromagnetic metal La$_{0.6}$Sr$_{0.4}$MnO$_3$ by x-ray absorption spectroscopy and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. As the film thickness was decreased across the critical thickness of the MIT (6-8 ML), a gradual decrease of the ferromagnetic signals and a concomitant increase of paramagnetic signals were observed, while the Mn…
The coercivity of La$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$MnO$_3$ thin films can be enhanced by Ru substitution for Mn. In order to elucidate its mechanism, we performed soft x-ray absorption and magnetic circular dichroism measurements at the Ru M$_{2,3}$ and Mn L$_{2,3}$ edges. We found that the spin direction of Ru and Mn are opposite and that Ru has a finite orbital magnetic moment. Cluster-model analysis indicated that the finite orbital magnetic moment as well as the reduced spin moment of Ru result from local lattice distortion caused by epitaxial strain from the SrTiO$_3$ substrate in the presence of spin-orb…
We propose that concurrently magnetic and ferroelectric, i.e. multiferroic, compounds endowed with electrically-active magnetic excitations (electromagnons) provide a key to produce large directional dichroism for long wavelengths of light. By exploiting the control of ferroelectric polarization and magnetization in a multiferroic oxide Ba$_2$CoGe$_2$O$_7$, we demonstrate the realization of such a directional light-switch function at terahertz frequecies in resonance with the electromagnon absorption. Our results imply that this hidden potential is present in a broad variety of multiferroics.
We argue that the magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) of the hard x-ray Raman scattering (XRS) could be used as an element selective probe of local spin polarization. The magnitude of the XRS-MCD signal is directly proportional to the local spin polarization when the angle between the incident wavevector and the magnetization vector is $135^{\circ}$ or $-45^{\circ}$. By comparing the experimental observation and the configuration interaction calculation at the $L_{2,3}$ and $M_{2,3}$ edges of ferromagnetic iron, we suggest that the integrated MCD signal in terms of the transferred energy could b…
Magnetic anisotropies of ferromagnetic thin films are induced by epitaxial strain from the substrate via strain-induced anisotropy in the orbital magnetic moment and that in the spatial distribution of spin-polarized electrons. However, the preferential orbital occupation in ferromagnetic metallic La$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$MnO$_3$ (LSMO) thin films studied by x-ray linear dichroism (XLD) has always been found out-of-plane for both tensile and compressive epitaxial strain and hence irrespective of the magnetic anisotropy. In order to resolve this mystery, we directly probed the preferential orbital occup…
