MAGNETIC CIRCULAR-DICHROISM IN L-3-RESONANT SOFT-X-RAY INELASTIC-SCATTERING OF DISORDERED FE-CO ALLOYS

We discuss the information given by dichroism measurements in soft-x-r ay resonant scattering from magnetic systems with particular reference to experimental results on disordered FexCo1-x alloys (x=0.05-0.9). W e show how to recover the scattering cross sections from the raw data and we introduce the emission dichroism correlating with the differenc e between occupied valence states with opposite spin. We obtain direct evidence of the filling of Fe majority states upon dilution and of th e dominant Fe minority states at E-f (bcc structure); this is even mor e evident in Co due to the greater d-state occupation. The potential a nd limitations of this spectroscopic technique are illustrated.