High Resolution Hard X-ray Magnetic Imaging with Dichroic Ptychography

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates high-resolution magnetic imaging of a micrometer-thick FeGd multilayer using hard X-ray dichroic ptychography, achieving 45 nm resolution and enabling 3D magnetic structure analysis at the nanoscale.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of hard X-ray dichroic ptychography for nanoscale magnetic imaging of buried structures, with spectroscopic capabilities at multiple absorption edges.

Findings

Achieved 45 nm spatial resolution in magnetic imaging.

First spectroscopic analysis of magnetic dichroism at multiple X-ray edges.

Enabled potential for 3D magnetic structure investigation.

Abstract

Imaging the magnetic structure of a material is essential to understanding the influence of the physical and chemical microstructure on its magnetic properties. Magnetic imaging techniques, however, have up to now been unable to probe 3D micrometer-sized systems with nanoscale resolution. Here we present the imaging of the magnetic domain configuration of a micrometre-thick FeGd multilayer with hard X-ray dichroic ptychography at energies spanning both the Gd L3 edge and the Fe K edge, providing a high spatial resolution spectroscopic analysis of the complex X-ray magnetic circular dichroism. With a spatial resolution reaching 45 nm, this advance in hard X-ray magnetic imaging is the first step towards the investigation of buried magnetic structures and extended three-dimensional magnetic systems at the nanoscale.