Invited Paper NT-TuA4
Polarized Neutron Reflectometry and Diffraction on Magnetic Thin Film Structures

Tuesday, October 16, 2007, 2:40 pm, Room 618

In this presentation, I will review applications of polarized neutron reflectivity and diffraction in regard to magnetic thin film research. Polarized reflectivity is an ideal tool for investigating vector magnetization profiles in thin film systems with a vertical depth-resolution of a few monolayers. The method has been used for many years, for example, to demonstrate oscillatory exchange coupling in magnetic multilayers, the effect which is causing giant magneto-resistance. Recently developed polarized "off-specular / diffuse" scattering methods also allow investigations of lateral (in-plane) magnetic correlations on length-scales between 1 nm and 100 µm. High-angle magnetic neutron diffraction is an extremely powerful technique for investigating atomic-scale antiferromagnetism in thin films. The latter is very important in regard to the exchange bias effect which is used in magnetic storage technology. Recent research results on Fe-Pt based films for magnetic recording applications will be presented.