National Synchrotron Light Source Symposium

Recently achieved progress in the field of X-ray magnetic spectroscopy is reviewed. Our focus is on photon-in/photon-out spectroscopies in the extended VUV and soft X-ray regime encompassing the important 3p and 2p absorption edges of the magnetic 3d transition metals. We consider several newer magneto-X-ray effects, which have been observed recently and are not yet frequently used, but possess various interesting features for element-resolved magnetization studies and imaging. These are in particular spectroscopies that are – in lowest order – sensitive to M2, M being the atomic magnetization, such as the X-ray magnetic linear dichroism (XMLD), the XMLD-in-reflection and the X-ray birefringence-in-reflection. These spectroscopies hold potential for element-specific investigations of antiferromagnetic materials. A theory of these magneto-X-ray spectroscopies is presented both on the level of the Fresnel optical formalism and on the level of ab initio relativistic electronic structure calculations. Ab initio calculated spectra are compared to experimental data obtained at BESSY, and, generally show excellent agreement for the late 3d transition metals. Other magneto-X-ray spectroscopies that will be discussed are the soft-X-ray transverse Kerr effect at the 3p and 2p edges and the X-ray Faraday effect at the 3p edges.