Measuring the magnetization of three monolayer thick Co islands and films by X-ray dichroism

TL;DR

This study uses XMCD-PEEM to analyze the magnetic properties of monolayer Co islands and films, revealing size-dependent domain structures and estimating magnetic moments at the atomic scale.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the magnetic domain configurations and spin-orbit characteristics of 3 ML Co islands using advanced microscopy and spectro-microscopy techniques.

Findings

Small islands are single-domain; larger islands show complex, chiral magnetic patterns.

The technique achieves atomic-scale control and imaging of magnetic structures.

An estimate of the ratio of spin to orbital magnetic moments is obtained.

Abstract

Co islands and films are characterized by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism photoemission electron microscopy (XMCD-PEEM). The spatial resolution capabilties of the technique together with atomic growth control permit obtaining perfectly flat triangular islands with a given thickness (3 ML), very close to an abrupt spin-reorientation transition. The magnetic domain configurations are found to depend on island size: while small islands can be magnetized in a single-domain state, larger islands show more complex patterns. Furthermore, the magnetization pattern of the larger islands presents a common chirality. By means of dichroic spectro-microscopy at the Co L absorption edges, an experimental estimate of the ratio of the spin- and orbital magnetic moment for three monolayer thick films is obtained.