Chiral surface spin textures in Cu2OSeO3 unveiled by soft X-ray scattering in specular reflection geometry

Resonant elastic soft X-ray magnetic scattering (XRMS) is a powerful tool to explore long-periodic spin textures in single crystals. However, due to the limited momentum transfer range imposed by long wavelengths of photons in the soft x-ray region, Bragg diffraction is restricted to crystals with t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science and technology of advanced materials Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 682 - 690
Main Authors: Ukleev, V., Luo, C., Abrudan, R., Aqeel, A., Back, C. H., Radu, F.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis 31.12.2022
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Taylor & Francis Group
Subjects:
Chirality
Crystal lattices
Crystal surfaces
Crystals
Ion beams
Lattice parameters
magnetic structure
Momentum transfer
Optical, Magnetic and Electronic Device Materials
Single crystals
skyrmions
Soft x rays
soft X-ray diffraction
Specular reflection
spin spirals
surface scattering
Wave dispersion
X ray reflection
X-ray resonant magnetic scattering
X-ray scattering
X-rays
ISSN:1468-6996, 1878-5514
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Resonant elastic soft X-ray magnetic scattering (XRMS) is a powerful tool to explore long-periodic spin textures in single crystals. However, due to the limited momentum transfer range imposed by long wavelengths of photons in the soft x-ray region, Bragg diffraction is restricted to crystals with the large lattice parameters. Alternatively, small-angle X-ray scattering has been involved in the soft energy X-ray range which, however, brings in difficulties with the sample preparation that involves focused ion beam milling to thin down the crystal to below a few hundred nm thickness. We show how to circumvent these restrictions using XRMS in specular reflection from a sub-nanometer smooth crystal surface. The method allows observing diffraction peaks from the helical and conical spin modulations at the surface of a Cu OSeO single crystal and probing their corresponding chirality as contributions to the dichroic scattered intensity. The results suggest a promising way to carry out XRMS studies on a plethora of noncentrosymmetric systems hitherto unexplored with soft X-rays due to the absence of the commensurate Bragg peaks in the available momentum transfer range.
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ISSN:1468-6996
1878-5514
DOI:10.1080/14686996.2022.2131466