Quantitative microscopy of magnetic domains in Fe(100) by core-level x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy -: art. no. 064429

We present an experimental technique for imaging of magnetic domain patterns based on element-specific core-level photoemission using polarized soft-x-ray radiation. It is applied to the measurement of domain patterns at the Fe(100) surface and at the surface of polycrystalline Fe. Different from well established imaging techniques that use a photoemission electron microscope to measure the secondary electron intensity at the Fe absorption threshold, we have investigated the photoemission intensity contrast on the the Fe 2p(3/2) core level using circularly polarized x-ray light. The linear and circular dichroism characteristics of the identical domain pattern are extracted by linear combinations of the photoemission yield with left and right circular polarization. For the measurement, a newly developed imaging x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectrometer NanoESCA was used. The method allows, in principle, the determination of all three magnetization components.