Magnetic phase contrast X-ray microscopy

This paper reports the use of phase sensitive X-ray optical elements in the soft X-ray transmission microscope beamline to image the magnetic domain structure of Gd₂₅Fe₇₅ amorphous layer at high spatial resolution. The amorphous magnetic material is deposited by electron beam evaporation onto a polyimid substrate exhibiting a pronounced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Observations show a magnetic contrast at the boundary of the magnetic domains; i.e. at the domain walls where the magnetization changes its direction. Hence, the availability of the X-ray optical elements adds an important new contrast mechanism to magnetic X-ray microscopy.