Illuminating Magnetic Materials Reveals Nanostructure Secrets

Researchers at the Max Born Institute in Berlin have successfully performed X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD) experiments in a laser laboratory for the first time. XMCD makes it possible to decode magnetic order in nanostructures and to assign it to different layers or chemical elements. Until now, access to the required x-ray radiation has only been possible at scientific large-scale facilities, such as synchrotron-radiation sources or free-electron lasers (FELs), and has thus been strongly limited. The work demonstrates that laser-based x-ray sources are catching up with large-scale facilities.