Imaging the Magnetic Structure of Thin Films and Nanoparticles

Abstract

Nuclear resonant scattering of synchrotron radiation is applied to investigate the magnetic spin structure of nanoscale systems. The outstanding brilliance of modern synchrotron radiation sources allows for sensitivities in the sub-monolayer regime. Due to the isotopic sensitivity of the scattering process, ultrathin probe layers of Mossbauer isotopes can be used to map out the magnetic structure of thin films with sub-nm spatial resolution. This technique is applied to determine the magnetic spin structure of an exchange-coupled bilayer system. Moreover, a procedure is introduced to determine the magnetic structure of nanoscale islands on a single-crystalline surface. An algorithm is developed that allows one to extract the magnetic structure function from a series of measured time spectra. These techniques can be extended to a number of Mossbauer isotopes that are constituents of modern magnetic materials.