TY - JOUR
T1 - X-ray natural circular dichroism imaging of multiferroic crystals
AU - Platunov, Mikhail S.
AU - Gudim, Irina A.
AU - Ovchinnikova, Elena N.
AU - Kozlovskaya, Ksenia A.
AU - Wilhelm, Fabrice
AU - Rogalev, Andrei
AU - Hen, Amir
AU - Ivanov, Vsevolod Y.
AU - Mukhin, Alexander A.
AU - Dmitrienko, Vladimir E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/5/1
Y1 - 2021/5/1
N2 - The polarizing spectroscopy techniques in visible range optics have been used since the beginning of the 20th century to study the anisotropy of crystals based on birefringence and optical activity phenomena. On the other hand, the phenomenon of X-ray optical activity has been demonstrated only relatively recently. It is a selective probe for the element-specific properties of individual atoms in non-centrosymmetric materials. We report the X-ray Natural Circular Dichroism (XNCD) imaging technique which enables spatially resolved mapping of X-ray optical activity in non-centrosymmetric materials. As an example, we present the results of combining micro-focusing X-ray optics with circularly polarized hard X-rays to make a map of enantiomorphous twinning in a multiferroic SmFe3 (BO3)4 crystal. Our results demonstrate the utility and potential of polarization-contrast imaging with XNCD as a sensitive technique for multiferroic crystals where the local enantiomorphous properties are especially important. In perspective, this brings a novel high-performance method for the characterization of structural changes associated with phase transitions and identification of the size and spatial distribution of twin domains.
AB - The polarizing spectroscopy techniques in visible range optics have been used since the beginning of the 20th century to study the anisotropy of crystals based on birefringence and optical activity phenomena. On the other hand, the phenomenon of X-ray optical activity has been demonstrated only relatively recently. It is a selective probe for the element-specific properties of individual atoms in non-centrosymmetric materials. We report the X-ray Natural Circular Dichroism (XNCD) imaging technique which enables spatially resolved mapping of X-ray optical activity in non-centrosymmetric materials. As an example, we present the results of combining micro-focusing X-ray optics with circularly polarized hard X-rays to make a map of enantiomorphous twinning in a multiferroic SmFe3 (BO3)4 crystal. Our results demonstrate the utility and potential of polarization-contrast imaging with XNCD as a sensitive technique for multiferroic crystals where the local enantiomorphous properties are especially important. In perspective, this brings a novel high-performance method for the characterization of structural changes associated with phase transitions and identification of the size and spatial distribution of twin domains.
KW - Mapping
KW - Multiferroics
KW - Twinning
KW - X-ray Natural Circular Dichroism
KW - X-ray optical activity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85106597531&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/cryst11050531
DO - 10.3390/cryst11050531
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85106597531
SN - 2073-4352
VL - 11
JO - Crystals
JF - Crystals
IS - 5
M1 - 531
ER -