Effects of dynamic diffraction conditions on magnetic parameter determination in a double perovskite Sr2FeMoO6 using electron energy-loss magnetic chiral dichroism

Z C Wang; X Y Zhong; L Jin; X F Chen; Y Moritomo; J Mayer

doi:10.1016/j.ultramic.2016.12.024

Effects of dynamic diffraction conditions on magnetic parameter determination in a double perovskite Sr₂FeMoO₆ using electron energy-loss magnetic chiral dichroism

Ultramicroscopy. 2017 May:176:212-217. doi: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2016.12.024. Epub 2016 Dec 30.

Authors

Z C Wang¹, X Y Zhong², L Jin³, X F Chen¹, Y Moritomo⁴, J Mayer⁵

Affiliations

¹ National Center for Electron Microscopy in Beijing, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials (MOE), The State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
² National Center for Electron Microscopy in Beijing, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials (MOE), The State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ Peter Grünberg Institute and Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons (ER-C), Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
⁴ Graduate School of Pure & Applied Science and Faculty of Pure & Applied Science, University of Tsukuba, Tennodai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-7571, Japan.
⁵ Peter Grünberg Institute and Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons (ER-C), Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany; Central Facility for Electron Microscopy, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany.

PMID: 28089306
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2016.12.024

Abstract

Electron energy-loss magnetic chiral dichroism (EMCD) spectroscopy, which is similar to the well-established X-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy (XMCD), can determine the quantitative magnetic parameters of materials with high spatial resolution. One of the major obstacles in quantitative analysis using the EMCD technique is the relatively poor signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), compared to XMCD. Here, in the example of a double perovskite Sr₂FeMoO₆, we predicted the optimal dynamical diffraction conditions such as sample thickness, crystallographic orientation and detection aperture position by theoretical simulations. By using the optimized conditions, we showed that the SNR of experimental EMCD spectra can be significantly improved and the error of quantitative magnetic parameter determined by EMCD technique can be remarkably lowered. Our results demonstrate that, with enhanced SNR, the EMCD technique can be a unique tool to understand the structure-property relationship of magnetic materials particularly in the high-density magnetic recording and spintronic devices by quantitatively determining magnetic structure and properties at the nanometer scale.

Keywords: Dynamical diffraction calculation; Electron energy-loss magnetic chiral dichroism; Magnetic parameter determination; Signal-to-noise ratio; Sr(2)FeMoO(6).

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't