Modified magnetism at a buried Co/Pd interface resolved with X-ray standing waves

Soft x-ray standing waves produced by a multilayer interference substrate a dd depth sensitivity to magnetic circular dichroism to resolve changes in C o magnetism across a 1 nm distance from the Co center to the Co-on-Pd inter face of a Pd/Co/Pd trilayer with an in-plane magnetization. Large enhanceme nts of the number of Co d holes, and of in-plane orbital and spin magnetic moments, are strongly localized at a thin, chemically modified interface la yer. These results provide new insight into magnetic anisotropy at interfac es, and suggest a broad applicability of such standing wave measurements to interface magnetism studies.