X-ray circular dichroism under reflection from antiferromagnetically coupled multilayers

The fluorescence yield under the Bragg reflection of right and left circular polarized radiation with a wavelength in the vicinity of the Fe$L_{2,3}$ absorption edges from the periodic multilayer [Fe(1.5 nm)/V(1.5 nm)]$_{10}$ that is characterized by the antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling has been theoretically analyzed in L-MOKE geometry. It has been shown that the largest polarization asymmetry of reflectivity takes place at the “magnetic” Bragg reflection, which appears due to the doubling of the magnetic period. The expected occurrence of the dichronic signal in the fluorescence yield by its selective excitation in the layers with the same magnetization direction was confirmed, but the effect is suppressed by the specific behaviour of the standing waves in the strongly absorbing multilayers where the standing wave antinodes are situated in layers with low absorption.