Performance of a Mott detector for undulator-based spin-resolved spectroscopy

To measure spin-polarized core-level electron spectra, a spectrometer equipped with a highly efficient retarding-potential Mott spin polarimeter using undulator-based soft-x-ray beamlines has been set up. With a thin film of Au as a target this polarimeter has an efficiency estimated to be similar to2x10(-4). The performance of this system for spin-polarized spectroscopy has been tested using core-level spin-polarized photoemission of magnetic and nonmagnetic thin films excited with linearly and circularly polarized light, respectively. Measurements using a new spin-resolved absorption technique are also discussed. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.