Time-resolved x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) enables a unique spectroscopic view on complex spin and charge dynamics in multi-elemental magnetic materials. So far, its application in the soft-x-ray range has been limited to synchrotron-radiation sources and free-electron lasers. By combining a laser-driven plasma source with a magnetic thin-film polarizer, we generate circularly polarized photons in the soft x-ray regime, enabling the first XMCD spectroscopy at the Fe L edges in a laser laboratory. Our approach can be readily adapted to other transition metal L and rare earth M absorption edges and with a temporal resolution of < 10 ps, a wide range of ultrafast magnetization studies can be realized.
@article{arxiv.2211.02777,
title = {Picosecond x-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy at the Fe L-edges with a laser-driven plasma source},
author = {Martin Borchert and Dieter Engel and Clemens von Korff Schmising and Bastian Pfau and Stefan Eisebitt and Daniel Schick},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.02777},
year = {2022}
}