Threshold photoemission magnetic circular dichroism of perpendicularly magnetized Ni films on Cu(001): Theory and experiment

Abstract

Threshold photoemission magnetic circular dichroism of perpendicularly magnetized Ni films on Cu(001) was measured in total electron yield and used to observe the magnetic domain structure in a photoemission electron microscope. Spin-polarized relativistic Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker Green's function calculations including a dynamical mean-field theory approach within the one-step-photoemission model reproduce the measured asymmetry in the photocurrents for left and right circularly polarized light. In addition, a three-step photoemission model calculation based on the same ab initio calculation is used to quantitatively explain the MCD effect near the photoemission threshold. © 2011 American Physical Society.