The advent of electron accelerators dedicated to the production of high-intensity x-rays has revitalized experimental techniques based on x-ray absorption. A recent variant is to use circularly polarized x-rays generated either by use of out-of-plane radiation from a bending magnet or from a specially designed “insertion device.” This new field of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) shows considerable promise in spectroscopy and microscopy of magnetic materials. In this article, we describe the nature of XMCD, offer a few examples of recent progress, and review the prospects for future development using the newly constructed Advanced Light Source (ALS).
Capturing ultrafast magnetic dynamics by time-resolved soft x-ray magnetic circular dichroism