Atom-specific surface magnetometry

A powerful atom-specific surface magnetometry can be based on efficient measurements of magnetic dichroism in l0 core level photoemission. The temperature dependence M(T) of the Fe(100) surface magnetization was obtained from the photoemission magnetic asymmetry of 3p core levels, providing the measure of the surface exchange coupling via the spin-wave stiffness and of the surface critical exponent. Beyond the magnetic order M the photoemission dichroism allows us to derive the energy splitting of the magnetic sublevels of the photoexcited core hole. Fe 3p photoemission dichroism probes directly the magnetic moment changes of iron atoms at Fe(100) surfaces as a function of structural disorder or sulfur segregation. The appearance of dichroism in the 2p photoemission of segregated sulfur atoms in the c(2×2)S/Fe(100) superstructure measures the magnetic-moment transfer and shows the possibility of investigating surface magnetochemistry in a very direct way.