Polarization dependence of magnetic x-ray scattering

Abstract

We calculate the polarization dependence of the x-ray scattering cross section, including magnetic terms, using the Poincaré representation for the polarization. General expressions are given for the polarization dependence of the cross section of the pure magnetic scattering and of the interference between charge and magnetic scattering, and for the polarization of the scattered beam in both cases. These expressions are compared to the equivalent results for magnetic neutron scattering. The general results are then specialized to several typical cases, including the scattering of linearly and circularly polarized radiation from spiral, uniaxially modulated, and ferromagnetic structures. It is shown that detailed magnetic-structure determinations are possible using synchrotron radiation. It is further demonstrated that the orbital- and spin-angular-momentum contributions of both ferromagnets and antiferromagnets may be separately measured in a variety of simple geometries. It is found that, although the efficiency is very low, linearly polarized radiation can be completely converted to circular polarization by scattering from a magnetic spiral. Finally, it is shown that, in addition to the interference between charge and magnetic scattering, there is an interference involving the spin- and orbital-angular-momentum scattering, which can couple moments in different spatial directions.