Comparative theoretical study of x-ray magnetic circularly polarized emission from ferromagnetic Fe, Co, and Ni

¹ Department of Material Science, Graduate School of Science, University of Hyogo - 3-2-1 Kouto, Kamigori, Ako, Hyogo 678-1297, Japan
² Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, SPring-8 1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo, Hyogo 679-5148, Japan

^(a) E-mail: kobayashi.hiroki3@qst.go.jp (corresponding author)

Received: 7 August 2022
Accepted: 25 October 2022

Abstract

X-ray magnetic circularly polarized emission (XMCPE) is a novel magneto-optical phenomenon in which characteristic x-rays emitted from a magnetized material are circularly polarized. In this letter, we report a comparative theoretical study of XMCPE spectra of the Kα emission from ferromagnetic Fe, Co, and Ni. Calculated XMCPE spectra have characteristic tail structures on the low-energy side of the Kα emission peaks. Comparison of the spectra shows that Fe, Co, and Ni have broad, intermediate, and narrow tail structures, respectively. Since these tail structures originate from electron excitations in the 3d conduction bands, this difference in tail structure width can be explained by the difference in the spin-polarized 3d electron states among the three metals.