Vanishing Fe 3d orbital moments in single-crystalline magnetite

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Published 7 December 2005 2006 EDP Sciences
, , Citation E. Goering et al 2006 EPL 73 97 DOI 10.1209/epl/i2005-10359-8

0295-5075/73/1/97

Abstract

We show detailed magnetic absorption spectroscopy results of an in situ cleaved high-quality single crystal of magnetite. In addition the experimental setup was carefully optimized to reduce drift, self-absorption, and offset phenomena as far as possible. In strong contradiction to recently published data, our observed orbital moments are nearly vanishing and the spin moments are quite close to the integer values proposed by theory. This very important issue supports the half-metallic full-spin-polarized picture of magnetite.

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