Depth Profile of Induced Magnetic Polarization in Au Layers of Fe/Au(001) Metallic Superlattice by Resonant X-ray Magnetic Scattering at High Angle Region

Abstract

Spin polarization of 5d conduction electrons induced in the Au layers of antiferromagnetically coupled Fe/Au metallic superlattice was investigated by resonant X-ray magnetic diffraction at the Au L3 absorption edge. Superlattice reflections around the Au 002 Bragg peak were measured in the magnetic saturation state with circularly polarized synchrotron radiation X-rays of 11921 eV. The magnetic diffraction profile was extracted with the combination of helicity switching and reversing the direction of magnetic field applied along the line of intersection between the film surface and the scattering plane. The depth distribution of resonant magnetic scattering length in the Au layers was estimated from the magnetic diffraction profile. Both resonant magnetic diffraction from the Au layer and non-resonant magnetic diffraction from the Fe layer were considered in the analysis. We demonstrated that the depth distribution of the Au magnetic scattering length was expressed with sum of the interface-concentrated ...