Polarized Electron Probes of Magnetic Surfaces

The magnetic properties of surfaces are now being explored with electron spectroscopies that use electron spin polarization techniques. The increased activity in surface magnetic measurements with polarized electron beams is spurred by new scientific and technological challenges and is made feasible by recent advances in the technology of sources and detectors of polarized electrons. The ability to grow thin films and to engineer artificial structures permits new phenomena to be investigated at magnetic surfaces and interfaces. For such investigations, spin-polarized electron techniques-such as polarized electron scattering, polarized photoemission, polarized Auger spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy with polarization analysis-have been and will probably continue to be used to great advantage.