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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Quantitative imaging of spin and orbital magnetic moments in subsurface ultrathin layer with soft x-ray dichroic spectroptychography

Yoko Takeo1,2,3,*, Shoya Sakamoto1,3,4,*,†, Noboru Furuya1,5, Kai Sakurai1,5, Kyota Yoshinaga1,5, Jordan T. O’Neal1,3, Akihiro Suzuki6, Hidekazu Mimura7, Iwao Matsuda1 et al.

Yoshihisa Harada1, Haruhiko Ohashi2,3, Shinji Miwa1,3,8, and Takashi Kimura1,3,‡

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: shoya.sakamoto.e1@tohoku.ac.jp
  • ‡Contact author: tkimura@issp.u-tokyo.ac.jp
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APS Open Sci. 1, L000022 – Published 19 May, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/wx13-wgp7

Abstract

Quantitative evaluation of magnetic moment distributions in microstructures with high spatial resolution is essential to advance the development of next-generation spintronic devices. In this study, we successfully imaged the magnetic domain structure of micropatterned subnanometer thin films by combining high-resolution and high-sensitivity imaging using soft x-ray ptychography and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. Furthermore, by measuring hyperspectral images of magnetic thin-film patterns and applying the sum rule to absorption spectra at each pixel of the image, quantitative two-dimensional measurements of spin and orbital magnetic moments within magnetic domains were achieved. Such measurements provide a powerful evaluation method for the design of devices based on physical phenomena such as spin and orbital currents.

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APS Open Sci. 1, L000022– Published 19 May, 2026
Vol. 1
  • Received 24 December 2024
  • Accepted 23 April 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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