Magnetic circular dichroism in the hard X-ray range

An overview of X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) spectroscopy in the hard X-ray range is presented. A short historical overview shows how this technique has evolved from the early days of X-ray physics to become a workhorse technique in the modern magnetism research As with all X-ray spectroscopies, XMCD has the advantage of being element specific. Interpretation of the spectra based on magneto-optical sum rules can provide unique information about spin and orbital moment carried by absorbing atom in both amplitude and direction, can infer magnetic interactions from element selective magnetization curves, can allow separation of magnetic and non-magnetic components in heterogeneous systems. The review details the technology currently available for XMCD measurements in the hard X-ray range referring to the ESRF beamline ID12 as an example. The strengths of hard X-ray magnetic circular dichroism technique are illustrated with a wide variety of representative examples, such as actinide based ferromagnets, paramagnetism in metals, pure metallic nanoparticles, exchange spring magnets, half metallic ferromagnets, magnetism at interfaces, and dilute magnetic semiconductors. In this way, we aim to encourage researchers from various scientific communities to consider XMCD as a tool to understanding the electronic and magnetic properties of their samples.