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X-ray standing wave method to study magnetism in crystals with site selectivity

Michał Kamiński1,*,†, Preeti Pokhriyal1, Heiko Schulz-Ritter1, Sonia Francoual1, Laurence Bouchenoire2,3, and Martin Tolkiehn1

  • *Contact author: michal.kaminski@kit.edu
  • †Present address: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation (IPS), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
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Phys. Rev. B 113, 064109 – Published 17 February, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/tkb6-6qbx

Abstract

We report a new method for studying magnetism at the atomic level with site selectivity. It is based on the combination of the site-selective diffraction-based x-ray standing wave (XSW) technique and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), which provides the magnetic sensitivity. The use of the standing wave resulting from an interference between the incoming and the Bragg reflected electromagnetic waves ensures that the phase information is not lost and thus brings information about the magnetism at a given site directly. In the paper, we provide the theoretical foundations of such a method based on the dynamical theory of x-ray diffraction and time-dependent perturbation theory. By means of computer simulations, the principle of the method is thus presented in a rather accessible way. Finally, we demonstrate the results of a proof-of-principle experiment on single-crystalline yttrium-iron-garnet (YIG, Y3Fe5O12). We show data exhibiting a clear variation in the XMCD signal caused by the standing wave. A comparison with theoretical functions illustrates that the established theory reliably describes the phenomena involved and allows to extract useful information about the magnetic moments in YIG.

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Phys. Rev. B 113, 064109– Published 17 February, 2026
  • Received 16 April 2025
  • Revised 11 November 2025
  • Accepted 22 January 2026
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