Magnetic absorption dichroism and sum rules in itinerant magnets

Abstract

In this letter we discuss X-ray magnetic dichroism in magnetic materials where an itinerant model of the magnetic behaviour is appropriate. Inspired by progress made in interpreting dichroism spectra in a localized approach, we show that dichroism spectra are an excellent measure of the orbital and spin magnetic moments in itinerant magnets. By performing an energy decomposition of the sum rules we show that the structure found in dichroism spectra reflects the energy dependence of the magnetic moment.