Magnetic Circular Dichroism of Ni-Pd Alloys in Ni 2p, 3p, Pd 3p, and 4p Core Excitation Regions: Enhancement of Ni 3d Orbital Moment

The magnetic circular dichroism of Ni_xPd_1−x was measured in the Ni 3p, Pd 4p, Ni 2p, and Pd 3p excitation region. The change in the total magnetic moment and the contribution by orbital moments associated with the constituent atoms were estimated through the obtained spectra. There is a non negligible difference between the data in the Ni 3p-3d excitation region and those in the Ni 2p-3d excitation region, which has been interpreted in terms of atomic and itinerant aspects of the 3d states. It is found that the Ni 2p-3d spectra reflects atomic aspect of the valence band while Ni 3p-3d spectra an itinerant aspect, both of which give complementary information. The orbital moment is found to increase with decreasing x. The result is not in full agreement with the previous result of the band calculation.