Polarized neutron channeling as a tool for the investigations of weakly magnetic thin films

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel neutron channeling technique to directly measure weak magnetization in thin films, demonstrating higher sensitivity than traditional methods, with potential applications in studying magnetic properties of layered nanostructures.

Contribution

The paper presents a new neutron channeling method for detecting weak magnetization in thin films, offering improved sensitivity over existing reflection techniques.

Findings

Channeling method is more sensitive than specular reflection.

Successfully measured low magnetization in a TbCo5 thin film.

Method applicable to weakly magnetic layered structures.

Abstract

We present and apply a new method to measure directly weak magnetization in thin films. The polarization of a neutron beam channeling through a thin film structure is measured after exiting the structure edge as a microbeam. We have applied the method to a tri-layer thin film structure acting as a planar waveguide for polarized neutrons. The middle guiding layer is a rare earth based ferrimagnetic material TbCo5 with a low magnetization of about 20 mT. We demonstrate that the channeling method is more sensitive than the specular neutron reflection method.