X-rays and magnetism

Magnetism is among the most active and attractive areas in modern solid state physics because of intriguing phenomena interesting to fundamental research and a manifold of technological applications. State-of-the-art synthesis of advanced magnetic materials, e.g. in hybrid structures paves the way to new functionalities. To characterize modern magnetic materials and the associated magnetic phenomena, polarized x-rays have emerged as unique probes due to their specific interaction with magnetic materials. A large variety of spectroscopic and microscopic techniques have been developed to quantify in an element, valence and site-sensitive way properties of ferro-, ferri-, and antiferromagnetic systems, such as spin and orbital moments, and to image nanoscale spin textures and their dynamics with sub-ns time and almost 10 nm spatial resolution. The enormous intensity of x-rays and their degree of coherence at next generation x-ray facilities will open the fsec time window to magnetic studies addressing fundamental time scales in magnetism with nanometer spatial resolution. This review will give an introduction into contemporary topics of nanoscale magnetic materials and provide an overview of analytical spectroscopy and microscopy tools based on x-ray dichroism effects. Selected examples of current research will demonstrate the potential and future directions of these techniques.