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Type: 
Journal
Description: 
A material is said to exhibit dichroism if its photon absorption spectrum depends on the polarization of the incident radiation. In the case of X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), the absorption cross-section of a ferromagnet or a paramagnet in a magnetic field changes when the helicity of a circularly polarized photon is reversed relative to the magnetization direction. Although similarities between X-ray absorption and electron energy-loss spectroscopy in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) have long been recognized, it has been assumed that extending such equivalence to circular dichroism would require the electron beam in the TEM to be spin-polarized. Recently, it was argued on theoretical grounds that this assumption is probably wrong 1. Here we report the direct experimental detection of magnetic circular dichroism in a TEM. We compare our measurements of electron energy-loss magnetic …
Publisher: 
Nature Publishing Group
Publication date: 
1 May 2006
Authors: 

Peter Schattschneider, Stefano Rubino, Cécile Hébert, J Rusz, J Kuneš, P Novák, E Carlino, M Fabrizioli, G Panaccione, Giorgio Rossi

Biblio References: 
Volume: 441 Issue: 7092 Pages: 486-488
Origin: 
Nature