Novel insight into structural magnetism by polarized synchrotron X-ray scattering

Abstract

Recent increasing interest in spin-charge-entangled phenomena demands advancement of structural magnetism in order to elucidate the coupling mechanism between spin and charge of constituent electrons. This review illustrates recent developments in structural magnetism using polarized synchrotron X-ray scattering techniques, which have appropriate ability to explore hidden features in magnetic structures. The exploitation of X-ray polarization allows chiral discrimination of helimagnetic structure, evaluation of fraction of spin and orbital magnetic moments, visualization of antiferromagnetic domain distribution. The development of polarized X-ray diffractometry into microscopic observation techniques provides a scarce opportunity to investigate antiferromagnetic domain structures in detail. We present the basis of polarized X-ray diffractometry and X-ray magnetic scattering, and discuss potential directions for future developments.