Multiple energy x-ray holography: Incident-radiation polarization effects

Abstract

Multiple energy x-ray holography (MEXH) measures both phase and amplitude information for x rays scattered from an incident reference beam, from which three-dimensional atomic images can be directly reconstructed. The angular distribution of the x-ray scattering is highly dependent on the polarization direction via the Thomson scattering cross section. We consider here the effect of incident x-ray polarization on images of Fe atoms reconstructed from theoretical and experimental MEXH data for $\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{-}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}(001)$ (hematite). We also illustrate such polarization effects theoretically in the enhancement of specific atomic structural information of ideal Fe trimers, and a Ge \ensuremath{\delta}-layer buried in Si(001), where the use of different polarization modes and experimental geometries is found to strongly influence atomic images.