Iron L2,3 white line ratio in nm-sized γ-iron crystallites embedded in MgO

Abstract

Electron energy loss spectroscopy has been performed on nanometer-sized α- and γ-iron crystallites embedded in single-crystal MgO films prepared by vacuum-codeposition of iron and MgO. The Fe L3/L2 white line ratio of γ-ion crystallites was found to be slightly larger than the white line ratio of α-iron This suggests that nm-sized γ-iron crystallites embedded in single-crystal MgO are in a high-spin state similar to α-iron, and is consistent with previous magnetization measurements of γ-iron/MgO composite films