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Updated: May 29, 2026

Optimizing Magnetic Force Microscopy Resolution and Sensitivity to Visualize Nanoscale Magnetic Domains
Published on: July 20, 2022
Ultimate limit of electron-spin precession upon reflection in ferromagnetic films
1Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg, UMR 7504, UdS-CNRS, 23 rue du Loess, BP 43, F-67034 Strasbourg Cedex 2, France.
Abstract:
We report the discovery of 180° electron-spin precession in spin-polarized electron-reflection experiments on Fe films on Ag(001), the largest possible precession angle in a single electron reflection. Both experiments as a function of Fe film thickness and ab initio calculations show that the appearance of this ultimate spin precession depends with utmost sensitivity on the relaxation of the Fe surface layers during growth. Similar spin precession is also predicted for other ferromagnetic films.
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