Atomic scale imaging of magnetic circular dichroism by achromatic electron microscopy

• Published in: Nature materials Vol. 17; no. 3; pp. 221 - 225
• Main Authors: Wang, Zechao, Tavabi, Amir H., Jin, Lei, Rusz, Ján, Tyutyunnikov, Dmitry, Jiang, Hanbo, Moritomo, Yutaka, Mayer, Joachim, Dunin-Borkowski, Rafal E., Yu, Rong, Zhu, Jing, Zhong, Xiaoyan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.03.2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/301/930/328/2082; 639/766/119/997; Aberration; Biomaterials; Condensed Matter Physics; Dichroism; Electron energy; Electron microscopy; Electrons; Energy transmission; Imaging; Letter; Magnetic materials; Magnetic moments; Magnetic properties; Magnetism; Material properties; Materials Science; Microscopy; Nanotechnology; Optical and Electronic Materials; Spatial resolution; Transmission electron microscopy
• ISSN: 1476-1122; 1476-4660; 1476-4660
• DOI: 10.1038/s41563-017-0010-4

In order to obtain a fundamental understanding of the interplay between charge, spin, orbital and lattice degrees of freedom in magnetic materials and to predict and control their physical properties 1 – 3 , experimental techniques are required that are capable of accessing local magnetic information with atomic-scale spatial resolution. Here, we show that a combination of electron energy-loss magnetic chiral dichroism 4 and chromatic-aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy, which reduces the focal spread of inelastically scattered electrons by orders of magnitude when compared with the use of spherical aberration correction alone, can achieve atomic-scale imaging of magnetic circular dichroism and provide element-selective orbital and spin magnetic moments atomic plane by atomic plane. This unique capability, which we demonstrate for Sr 2 FeMoO 6 , opens the door to local atomic-level studies of spin configurations in a multitude of materials that exhibit different types of magnetic coupling, thereby contributing to a detailed understanding of the physical origins of magnetic properties of materials at the highest spatial resolution. By combining electron energy-loss magnetic chiral dichroism and chromatic-aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy, it becomes possible to achieve atomic-scale imaging of magnetic circular dichroism.