We used spectroscopic photoemission and low-energy electron microscopy to investigate the electronic properties of epitaxial few-layer graphene grown on 6H-SiC͑0001͒. Photoelectron emission microscopy ͑PEEM͒ images using secondary electrons ͑SEs͒ and C 1s photoelectrons can discriminate areas with different numbers of graphene layers. The SE emission spectra indicate that the work function increases with the number of graphene layers and that unoccupied states in the few-layer graphene promote SE emission. The C 1s PEEM images indicate that the C 1s core level shifts to lower binding energies as the number of graphene layers increases, which is consistent with the reported thickness dependence of the Dirac point energy.

Characterization and control of the interface structure and morphology at the atomic level is an important issue in understanding the magnetic interaction between an antiferromagnetic material and an adjacent ferromagnet in detail, because the atomic spins in an antiferromagnet change direction on the length scale of nearest atomic distances. Despite its technological importance for the development of advanced magnetic data-storage devices and extensive studies, the details of the magnetic interface coupling between antiferromagnets and ferromagnets have remained concealed. Here we present the results of magneto-optical Kerr-effect measurements and layer-resolved spectro-microscopic magnetic domain imaging of single-crystalline ferromagnet-antiferromagnet- ferromagnet trilayers. Atomic-level control of the interface morphology is achieved by systematically varying the thicknesses of the bottom ferromagnetic and the antiferromagnetic layer. We find that the magnetic coupling across the interface is mediated by step edges of single-atom height, whereas atomically flat areas do not contribute.

We report on the excellent performance of a newly constructed soft x-ray helical undulator beamline BL25SU of SPring-8 for photon energies 500-1800 eV. The full beamline was designed to perform very high resolution soft x-ray spectroscopy of solids with using high brilliance, highly circularly polarized undulator radiation. The grazing incidence monochromator employs varied-line-spacing plane gratings which operate in convergent light from a spherical mirror and focuses monochromatic light onto the exit slit. A resolving power in excess of 15 000 was measured at 540 and 870 eV for a grating with a central groove density of 600 lines/mm from the photoemission spectra of Au. A resolving power of more than 20 000 is estimated near 870 eV for a grating with a central groove density of 1000 lines/mm. A photon flux of more than 1ϫ10 11 photons/s/100 mA/0.02% b.w. is supplied onto the sample between 500 and 1800 eV with very low amount of higher-order light. The low heat load from the twin-helical undulator gives high stability to all optical components, which is essential to obtain high resolution in a wide energy region. Three experimental stations are installed in tandem on this beamline for various high resolution spectroscopy measurements.

We prepared L10-ordered FeNi alloy films by alternate deposition of Fe and Ni monatomic layers, and investigated their magnetic anisotropy. We employed a non-ferromagnetic Au-Cu-Ni buffer layer with a flat surface and good lattice matching to L10-FeNi. An L10-FeNi film grown on Au6Cu51Ni43 showed a large uniaxial magnetic anisotropy energy (Ku = 7.0 × 10(6) erg cm(-)3). Ku monotonically increased with the long-range order parameter (S) of the L10 phase. We investigated the Fe-Ni composition dependence by alternating the deposition of Fe 1 − x and Ni 1 + x monatomic layers (− 0.4 < x < 0.4). Saturation magnetization (Ms) and Ku showed maxima (Ms = 1470 emu cm(-3), Ku = 9.3 × 10(6) erg cm(-3)) for Fe60Ni40 (x = -0.2) while S showed a maximum at the stoichiometric composition (x = 0). The change in the ratio of lattice parameters (c/a) was small for all compositions. We found that enrichment of Fe is very effective to enhance Ku. The large Ms and Ku of Fe60Ni40 indicate that Fe-rich L10-FeNi is promising as a rare-earth-free permanent magnet.