Imaging nanoscale magnetism and its fast dynamics with soft X-ray microscopy

Abstract EN

-The magnetic properties in Nano scale-sized solid state systems are of paramount interest both scientifically as well as technologically.

While the charge of the electron is the basic unit in current electronics, taking into additional account the spin degree of freedom in future spin-electronics (spintronics) applications, a vast variety of new avenues will open up.

Progress towards a better physical understanding of the mechanism and principals involved, as well as potential applications of Nano magnetic devices, can only be achieved with advanced analytical tools, where a direct imaging of Nano scale magnetic structures and their fast dynamics is very appealing.

Magnetic transmission soft x-ray microscopy (MTXM) uses circularly polarized soft x-rays to achieve a strong magnetic contrast mechanism by x-ray magnetic circular dichroic (XMCD) effects, which occur at characteristic, i.e., element-selective, x-ray absorption edges.

MTXM combines a spatial resolution down to almost 10nm by state of the-art Fresnel zone plate optics in MTXM and a temporal resolution in the sub-ns regime limited by the inherent time structure of current synchrotron sources.

Hence, MTXM allows us to study in a unique way, e.g., the stochastically behavior in the magnetization reversal process of thin films or the ultrafast dynamics of magnetic vortices and domain walls in confined ferromagnetic structures.

Since future x-ray sources will deliver fsec short and high intense soft x-ray photon pulses, magnetic soft x-ray microscopy techniques hold the promise of magnetic imaging down to fundamental magnetic length and time scales.