First observation of bulk magnetic scattering using high-energy X-rays

Today, the most powerful methods for the investigation of magnetic structures are magnetic neutron diffraction and synchrotron-X-ray scattering in the energy range 3–15 keV. This paper reports the first successful experiment to exploit a new technique: the magnetic diffraction of hard X-rays with energies exceeding 80 keV. This technique combines some of the advantages of each of the aforementioned methods: namely high Q-space resolution (10−4 A−1 radial and 10−5 A−1 tangential) and bulk sensitivity (absorption length >> 1 mm). It is shown that, compared to nominally 10 keV X-ray scattering, enhancement factors of several orders of magnitude can be obtained for the magnetic signal, owing to the increase in penetration depth. The magnetic cross section for these very hard X-rays is discussed, the new technique is compared with the existing methods and a preliminary experiment on MnF2 is reported.