The EIGER detector for low-energy electron microscopy and photoemission electron microscopy.

EIGER is a single-photon-counting hybrid pixel detector developed at the Paul Scherrer Institut, Switzerland. It is designed for applications at synchrotron light sources with photon energies above 5 keV. Features of EIGER include a small pixel size (75 µm × 75 µm), a high frame rate (up to 23 kHz), a small dead-time between frames (down to 3 µs) and a dynamic range up to 32-bit. In this article, the use of EIGER as a detector for electrons in low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM) and photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) is reported. It is demonstrated that, with only a minimal modification to the sensitive part of the detector, EIGER is able to detect electrons emitted or reflected by the sample and accelerated to 8-20 keV. The imaging capabilities are shown to be superior to the standard microchannel plate detector for these types of applications. This is due to the much higher signal-to-noise ratio, better homogeneity and improved dynamic range. In addition, the operation of the EIGER detector is not affected by radiation damage from electrons in the present energy range and guarantees more stable performance over time. To benchmark the detector capabilities, LEEM experiments are performed on selected surfaces and the magnetic and electronic properties of individual iron nanoparticles with sizes ranging from 8 to 22 nm are detected using the PEEM endstation at the Surface/Interface Microscopy (SIM) beamline of the Swiss Light Source.

In situ magnetic and electronic investigation of the early stage oxidation of Fe nanoparticles using X-ray photo-emission electron microscopy.

We present an in situ experimental investigation of the magnetic and electronic properties of individual iron nanoparticles with sizes ranging from 8 to 22 nm as a function of oxygen exposure (0-80 L), using X-ray photoemission electron microscopy. The X-ray absorption spectroscopy results show that, irrespective of size and magnetic state, the early stages of the Fe nanoparticle oxidation occur through the initial formation of a non-magnetic FeO-like layer, followed by a progressive transformation of the latter to Fe3O4. At 80 L, the metallic iron core and the outer Fe3O4 shell are separated by a thin FeO layer. Our data suggest that the outer Fe3O4 layer has either a magnetic order that significantly differs from the respective bulk or that the FeO-like layer is responsible for a magnetic decoupling between the Fe3O4 shell and the iron core. Moreover, we find that the recently observed blocked magnetic state in the pure metallic iron nanoparticles persists upon oxygen exposure, demonstrating that the enhanced magnetic energy barriers do not originate from the free surface of the nanoparticles.

Direct observation of thermal relaxation in artificial spin ice.

We study the thermal relaxation of artificial spin ice with photoemission electron microscopy, and are able to directly observe how such a system finds its way from an energetically excited state to the ground state. On plotting vertex-type populations as a function of time, we can characterize the relaxation, which occurs in two stages, namely a string and a domain regime. Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations agree well with the temporal evolution of the magnetic state when including disorder, and the experimental results can be explained by considering the effective interaction energy associated with the separation of pairs of vertex excitations.

Single domain spin manipulation by electric fields in strain coupled artificial multiferroic nanostructures.

We demonstrate in situ 90° electric field-induced uniform magnetization rotation in single domain submicron ferromagnetic islands grown on a ferroelectric single crystal using x-ray photoemission electron microscopy. The experimental findings are well correlated with micromagnetic simulations, showing that the reorientation occurs by the strain-induced magnetoelectric interaction between the ferromagnetic nanostructures and the ferroelectric crystal. Specifically, the ferroelectric domain structure plays a key role in determining the response of the structure to the applied electric field, resulting in three strain-induced regimes of magnetization behavior for the single domain islands.

Low temperature ferromagnetism in chemically ordered FeRh nanocrystals.

In sharp contrast to previous studies on FeRh bulk, thin films, and nanoparticles, we report the persistence of ferromagnetic order down to 3 K for size-selected 3.3 nm diameter nanocrystals embedded into an amorphous carbon matrix. The annealed nanoparticles have a B2 structure with alternating atomic Fe and Rh layers. X-ray magnetic dichroism and superconducting quantum interference device measurements demonstrate ferromagnetic alignment of the Fe and Rh magnetic moments of 3 and 1µ(B), respectively. The ferromagnetic order is ascribed to the finite-size induced structural relaxation observed in extended x-ray absorption spectroscopy.

Origin of interface magnetism in BiMnO3/SrTiO3 and LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures.

Possible ferromagnetism induced in otherwise nonmagnetic materials has been motivating intense research in complex oxide heterostructures. Here we show that a confined magnetism is realized at the interface between SrTiO3 and two insulating polar oxides, BiMnO3 and LaAlO3. By using polarization dependent x-ray absorption spectroscopy, we find that in both cases the magnetism can be stabilized by a negative exchange interaction between the electrons transferred to the interface and local magnetic moments. These local magnetic moments are associated with magnetic Ti3+ ions at the interface itself for LaAlO3/SrTiO3 and to Mn3+ ions in the overlayer for BiMnO3/SrTiO3. In LaAlO3/SrTiO3 the induced magnetism is quenched by annealing in oxygen, suggesting a decisive role of oxygen vacancies in this phenomenon.

Size-dependent spin structures in iron nanoparticles.

Using photoemission electron microscopy, we study the magnetization orientation in single 5-25 nm iron particles coupled to a ferromagnetic cobalt support. We find a noncollinear alignment between the particle and substrate magnetization above a particle size of approximately 6 nm and a parallel alignment for smaller sizes. Numerical calculations reveal a transition from an exchange-dominated to an anisotropy-dominated regime on increasing the particle height: the smaller particles are in a single-domain collinear state while larger particles exhibit a spin-spiral magnetic structure determined by the magnetic anisotropy energy.

Imaging of domain wall inertia in Permalloy half-ring nanowires by time-resolved photoemission electron microscopy.

Using photoemission electron microscopy, we image the dynamics of a field pulse excited domain wall in a Permalloy nanowire. We find a delay in the onset of the wall motion with respect to the excitation and an oscillatory relaxation of the domain wall back to its equilibrium position, defined by an external magnetic field. The origin of both of these inertia effects is the transfer of energy between energy reservoirs. By imaging the distribution of the exchange energy in the wall spin structure, we determine these reservoirs, which are the basis of the domain wall mass concept.

Direct determination of large spin-torque nonadiabaticity in vortex core dynamics.

We use a pump-probe photoemission electron microscopy technique to image the displacement of vortex cores in Permalloy discs due to the spin-torque effect during current pulse injection. Exploiting the distinctly different symmetries of the spin torques and the Oersted-field torque with respect to the vortex spin structure we determine the torques unambiguously, and we quantify the amplitude of the strongly debated nonadiabatic spin torque. The nonadiabaticity parameter is found to be ß=0.15±0.07, which is more than an order of magnitude larger than the damping constant α, pointing to strong nonadiabatic transport across the high magnetization gradient vortex spin structures.

Direct observation of the alignment of ferromagnetic spins by antiferromagnetic spins

The arrangement of spins at interfaces in a layered magnetic material often has an important effect on the properties of the material. One example of this is the directional coupling between the spins in an antiferromagnet and those in an adjacent ferromagnet, an effect first discovered in 1956 and referred to as exchange bias. Because of its technological importance for the development of advanced devices such as magnetic read heads and magnetic memory cells, this phenomenon has received much attention. Despite extensive studies, however, exchange bias is still poorly understood, largely due to the lack of techniques capable of providing detailed information about the arrangement of magnetic moments near interfaces. Here we present polarization-dependent X-ray magnetic dichroism spectro-microscopy that reveals the micromagnetic structure on both sides of a ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic interface. Images of thin ferromagnetic Co films grown on antiferromagnetic LaFeO3 show a direct link between the arrangement of spins in each material. Remanent hysteresis loops, recorded for individual ferromagnetic domains, show a local exchange bias. Our results imply that the alignment of the ferromagnetic spins is determined, domain by domain, by the spin directions in the underlying antiferromagnetic layer.

Influence of free charge carrier density on the magnetic behavior of (Zn,Co)O thin film studied by Field Effect modulation of magnetotransport.

The origin of (ferro)magnetic ordering in transition metal doped ZnO is a still open question. For applications it is fundamental to establish if it arises from magnetically ordered impurity clusters embedded into the semiconducting matrix or if it originates from ordering of magnetic ions dilute into the host lattice. In this latter case, a reciprocal effect of the magnetic exchange on the charge carriers is expected, offering many possibilities for spintronics applications. In this paper we report on the relationship between magnetic properties and free charge density investigated by using Zinc oxide based field effect transistors, in which the charge carrier density is modulated by more than 4 order of magnitude, from 1016 to 1020 e-/cm3. The magnetotransport properties are employed to probe the magnetic status of the channel both in pure and cobalt doped zinc oxide transistors. We find that it is widely possible to control the magnetic scattering rates by field effect. We believe that this finding is a consequence of the modulation of magnetization and carrier spin polarization by the electric field. The observed effects can be explained by the change in size of bound magnetic polarons that induces a percolation magnetic ordering in the sample.

Antiferromagnetic LaFeO(3) thin films and their effect on exchange bias.

Antiferromagnetic (AFM) orthoferrites are interesting model systems for exploring the correlation between their crystalline and AFM domains and the resulting exchange bias when coupled to a ferromagnetic layer. In particular, LaFeO(3) (LFO) has a Néel temperature, T(N) = 740 K, which is the highest in the orthoferrite family. The recent developments of synchrotron radiation-based photoelectron emission microscopy (PEEM) have provided the possibility of studying AFM domain structures as well as the magnetic coupling between the AFM and the adjacent ferromagnetic (FM) layer, domain by domain. Thin films of LFO have proved excellent candidates for such studies because their AFM domains are well defined and large enough to be readily imaged by PEEM. This paper reviews the growth, structural and magnetic properties of LFO thin films as well as exchange coupling to a FM layer. The strong correlation between structural and AFM domains in this material allows us to investigate the exchange coupling as a function of the domain configuration, which can be changed by using different substrate material and substrate orientation. A significant increase of the exchange bias field by a factor of about 10 was obtained when LFO was diluted with Ni atoms in the volume part. In this sample, the structural domain boundary became corrugated due to substitutional defects. Our results indicate that the details of the precise domain boundary configuration strongly affect the exchange coupling.

Electric field stimulation setup for photoemission electron microscopes.

Manipulating magnetisation by the application of an electric field in magnetoelectric multiferroics represents a timely issue due to the potential applications in low power electronics and the novel physics involved. Thanks to its element sensitivity and high spatial resolution, X-ray photoemission electron microscopy is a uniquely suited technique for the investigation of magnetoelectric coupling in multiferroic materials. In this work, we present a setup that allows for the application of in situ electric and magnetic fields while the sample is analysed in the microscope. As an example of the performances of the setup, we present measurements on Ni/Pb(Mg(0.66)Nb(0.33))O3-PbTiO3 and La(0.7)Sr(0.3)MnO3/PMN-PT artificial multiferroic nanostructures.

Effect of substrate interface on the magnetism of supported iron nanoparticles.

In situ X-ray photo-emission electron microscopy is used to investigate the magnetic properties of iron nanoparticles deposited on different single crystalline substrates, including Si(001), Cu(001), W(110), and NiO(001). We find that, in our room temperature experiments, Fe nanoparticles deposited on Si(001) and Cu(001) show both superparamagnetic and magnetically stable (blocked) ferromagnetic states, while Fe nanoparticles deposited on W(110) and NiO(001) show only superparamagnetic behaviour. The dependence of the magnetic behaviour of the Fe nanoparticles on the contact surface is ascribed to the different interfacial bonding energies, higher for W and NiO, and to a possible relaxation of point defects within the core of the nanoparticles on these substrates, that have been suggested to stabilise the ferromagnetic state at room temperature when deposited on more inert surfaces such as Si and Cu.

Nanoscale sub-100 picosecond all-optical magnetization switching in GdFeCo microstructures.

Ultrafast magnetization reversal driven by femtosecond laser pulses has been shown to be a promising way to write information. Seeking to improve the recording density has raised intriguing fundamental questions about the feasibility of combining ultrafast temporal resolution with sub-wavelength spatial resolution for magnetic recording. Here we report on the experimental demonstration of nanoscale sub-100 ps all-optical magnetization switching, providing a path to sub-wavelength magnetic recording. Using computational methods, we reveal the feasibility of nanoscale magnetic switching even for an unfocused laser pulse. This effect is achieved by structuring the sample such that the laser pulse, via both refraction and interference, focuses onto a localized region of the structure, the position of which can be controlled by the structural design. Time-resolved photo-emission electron microscopy studies reveal that nanoscale magnetic switching employing such focusing can be pushed to the sub-100 ps regime.

Oscillatory decay of magnetization induced by domain-wall stray fields

The demagnetization of a hard ferromagnetic layer via the fringing fields of domain walls created by reversing the moment of a neighboring soft ferromagnetic layer is explored experimentally. An unusual oscillatory decay of the magnetic moment of the hard layer is observed using structures in which the demagnetization occurs after a few hundred cycles. This surprising observation is confirmed on a microscopic scale by detailed imaging of the magnetization of the hard layer using high resolution photoemission electron microscopy and by micromagnetic simulations.

Reflections on a measurement of the gravitational constant using a beam balance and 13 tons of mercury.

In 2006, a final result of a measurement of the gravi- tational constant G performed by researchers at the University of Zürich, Switzerland, was published. A value of G=6.674252(122)×10-11 m3 kg-1 s-2 was obtained after an experimental effort that lasted over one decade. Here, we briefly summarize the measurement and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this approach.

The effect of magnetic anisotropy on the spin configurations of patterned La(0.7)Sr(0.3)MnO3 elements.

We study the effect of magnetocrystalline anisotropy on the magnetic configurations of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 bar and triangle elements using photoemission electron microscopy imaging. The dominant remanent state is a low energy flux-closure state for both thin (15 nm) and thick (50 nm) elements. The magnetocrystalline anisotropy, which competes with the dipolar energy, causes a strong modification of the spin configuration in the thin elements, depending on the shape, size and orientation of the structures. We investigate the magnetic switching processes and observe in triangular shaped elements a displacement of the vortex core along the easy axis for an external magnetic field applied close to the hard axis, which is well reproduced by micromagnetic simulations.

Artificial kagome spin ice: dimensional reduction, avalanche control and emergent magnetic monopoles.

Artificial spin-ice systems consisting of nanolithographic arrays of isolated nanomagnets are model systems for the study of frustration-induced phenomena. We have recently demonstrated that monopoles and Dirac strings can be directly observed via synchrotron-based photoemission electron microscopy, where the magnetic state of individual nanoislands can be imaged in real space. These experimental results of Dirac string formation are in excellent agreement with Monte Carlo simulations of the hysteresis of an array of dipoles situated on a kagome lattice with randomized switching fields. This formation of one-dimensional avalanches in a two-dimensional system is in sharp contrast to disordered thin films, where avalanches associated with magnetization reversal are two-dimensional. The self-organized restriction of avalanches to one dimension provides an example of dimensional reduction due to frustration. We give simple explanations for the origin of this dimensional reduction and discuss the disorder dependence of these avalanches. We conclude with the explicit demonstration of how these avalanches can be controlled via locally modified anisotropies. Such a controlled start and stop of avalanches will have potential applications in data storage and information processing.

Ultrafast heating as a sufficient stimulus for magnetization reversal in a ferrimagnet.

The question of how, and how fast, magnetization can be reversed is a topic of great practical interest for the manipulation and storage of magnetic information. It is generally accepted that magnetization reversal should be driven by a stimulus represented by time-non-invariant vectors such as a magnetic field, spin-polarized electric current, or cross-product of two oscillating electric fields. However, until now it has been generally assumed that heating alone, not represented as a vector at all, cannot result in a deterministic reversal of magnetization, although it may assist this process. Here we show numerically and demonstrate experimentally a novel mechanism of deterministic magnetization reversal in a ferrimagnet driven by an ultrafast heating of the medium resulting from the absorption of a sub-picosecond laser pulse without the presence of a magnetic field.