Soft X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism of Ce(Fe0.8Co0.2)2

Abstract

Soft x‐ray magnetic circular dichroism study was performed at the L2,3 edges of iron and cobalt and the M4, 5 edge of cerium in the ferromagnetic Ce(Fe0.8Co0.2)2 compound. The spin and orbital angular magnetic moments of Fe and Co were separately estimated by applying the sum‐rules to the magnetic circular dichroism spectra. The estimated magnetic moment of Co is much smaller than that of Fe, suggesting that the small magnetic moment of Co is associated with the suppression of the magnetization in this system. We have also estimated the Ce 4f electron number from the absorption spectrum.