Polarization analysis in soft X-ray diffraction to study magnetic and orbital ordering

An experimental approach to the analysis of charge, magnetic and orbital ordering in 3d transition-metal oxides is presented. The technique combines two important components: azimuthal rotations around the Bragg wavevector and polarization analysis of the Bragg intensities in the range 500-900 eV. The polarization analysis is performed using graded multilayers, which are translated and rotated in the vacuum chamber. It is shown why these two components are important to determine the origin of the Bragg scattered signals and how they allow us to separate the different contributions. Examples are given for the oxygen K and the Mn, Co, Ni and Cu L-2,L-3-edges, and the advantages and drawbacks of this experimental technique are discussed.