Analysis of polarization of secondary electrons emitted from magnetic materials

Abstract

The polarization phenomenon of secondary elections scattered from magnetic materials has important applications in the field of magnetic measurement, such as spin polarization scanning electron microscopy and spin polarization secondary electron spectroscopy. The study of the polarization phenomenon of secondary electrons gives a better understanding of the information obtained by those methods. Therefore, it is important to analyze secondary electron emission from the magnetic materials considering the electron spin. The energy distribution and primary energy dependence of the polarization of secondary electrons have been studied experimentally for a few decades. Here, the spin polarization of secondary electrons emitted from a permalloy material is calculated as functions of the energy and the incident angle of primary electrons. The validity of the simulation is confirmed by a comparison with experimental results.