SPring-8, the large synchrotron radiation facility

A research group of Hiroshi Sakurai, a professor of the Department of Production Science and Technology, Gunma University, Akane Agui, an associate senior scientist of Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), and Masayoshi Itou, an associate senior scientist of Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI), has succeeded in separately obtaining spin- and orbital-specific magnetic hysteresis loops for an amorphous Tb₄₃Co₅₇ thin film, which is a magnetic recording medium, using magnetic Compton scattering. This is impossible by conventional macroscopic measurements alone. It was found that the shape of the spin-specific magnetic hysteresis was different from that of the orbital-specific magnetic hysteresis and that the spin component was more stable to changes in the magnetic field than the orbital component. Spintronics devices, expected to be used as next-generation devices, control spins by exploiting magnetic fields. Although their material development has been based on macroscopic magnetic measurements, the achievements of this research will enable the magnetic properties of the spin and orbital components to be separately utilized, which should lead to the development of high-speed devices with low power consumption. This first-ever measurement was realized using the high-brilliance, high-energy circularly polarized X-rays at SPring-8.

The results of this study were published in the applied physics journal Applied Physics Express on 28 July 2011.

Publication:
"Microscopic Magnetization Process in Tb₄₃Co₅₇ Film by Magnetic Compton Scattering"
Akane Agui, Sayaka Matsumoto, Hiroshi Sakurai, Naruki Tsuji, Satoshi Homma, Yoshiharu Sakurai, and Masayoshi Itou
Applied Physics Express 4, 083002 (2011), published online July 28, 2011