Antiferromagnetic real-space configuration probed by dichroism in scattered x-ray beams with orbital angular momentum

X-ray beams with orbital angular momentum (OAM) are a promising tool for x-ray characterization techniques. Beams with OAM have a helicity - an azimuthally varying phase - which leads to a gradient of the light field. New material properties can be probed by utilizing the helicity of an OAM beam. He...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. B 2023-02, Vol.107 (6)
Main Authors: McCarter, Margaret R., Saleheen, Ahmad U., Singh, Arnab, Tumbleson, Ryan, Woods, Justin S., Tremsin, Anton S., Scholl, Andreas, De Long, Lance E., Hastings, J. Todd, Morley, Sophie A., Roy, Sujoy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
angular momentum of light
antiferromagnetism
atomic, molecular & optical
coherent X-ray scattering
CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
condensed matter, materials & applied physics
photoelectron emission microscopy
resonant elastic x-ray scattering
X-ray resonant magnetic scattering
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Summary:X-ray beams with orbital angular momentum (OAM) are a promising tool for x-ray characterization techniques. Beams with OAM have a helicity - an azimuthally varying phase - which leads to a gradient of the light field. New material properties can be probed by utilizing the helicity of an OAM beam. Here, we demonstrate a dichroic effect in resonant diffraction from an artificial antiferromagnet with a topological defect. We found that the scattered OAM beam has circular dichroism at the antiferromagnetic Bragg peak whose sign is coupled to its helicity, which reveals the real-space configuration of the antiferromagnetic ground state. Thermal cycling of the artificial antiferromagnet can change the ground state, as indicated by reversal of the sign of circular dichroism. This result is one of the first demonstrations of a soft x-ray spectroscopy characterization technique utilizing the OAM of x-rays. In conclusion, this helicity-dependent circular dichroism exemplifies the potential to utilize OAM beams to probe matter in a way that is inaccessible using currently available x-ray techniques.
ISSN:2469-9950