Nanoscale Magnetic Imaging using Circularly Polarized High-Harmonic Radiation


  Ofer Kfir  ,  Sergey Zayko  ,  Christina Nolte  ,  Murat Sivis  ,  Marcel Möller  ,  Birgit Hebler  ,  Sri Sai Phani Kanth Arekapudi  ,  Daniel Steil  ,  Sascha Schäfer  ,  Manfred Albrecht  ,  Oren Cohen  ,  Stefan Mathias  ,  Claus Ropers  
University of Göttingen
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
University of Augsburg

Attractive magnetic phenomena such as skyrmions and all-optical-switching are found in ferrimagnetic materials and structures. Magneto-optical microscopy with extreme-UV and X-rays offers a unique element-specific probe of the magnetization state, however, it is presently limited to synchrotrons and free-electron lasers. This work is the first demonstration of nanoscale magnetic imaging with high-harmonic generation (HHG) from lasers. We quantitatively map the phase- and absorption XMCD (X-ray magnetic circular dichroism) contrast using circularly polarized HHG, at a resolution below 50 nm. This result opens the path towards element-specific probing of magnetic dynamics at the nanometer- and femtosecond-scales, even at a ferrimagnetic compensation point.