Magnetic circular dichroism of resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy for Sm (formula presented) and (formula presented) in a (formula presented) amorphous alloy

The magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) of resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy (RXES) was studied for the Sm (formula presented) and (formula presented) optical processes in a ferromagnetic (formula presented) amorphous alloy. The MCD of RXES (MCDRXES) originating from the optical process of (formula presented) which corresponds to dipolar decay after quadrupolar (formula presented) excitation, was obviously observed at the preedge region in addition to that of the normal dipolar (formula presented) excitation. Moreover, the (formula presented) contribution of the MCD has been separated into those for (formula presented) excitation to the (formula presented) state with majority and minority spins. A theoretical calculation based on a formula of the coherent second-order optical process was carried out for all of the experimental MCDRXES spectra. In the calculation, the multiplet coupling effect and the enhancement of the (formula presented) dipole matrix elements proposed for the MCD of x-ray absorption were taken into account. The calculated MCDRXES spectra reproduced all of the experimental results very successfully. The present result provided an appropriate interpretation of the origins of the MCD effect, which comes from the (formula presented) and the (formula presented) contributions at both the (formula presented) and the (formula presented) edges.