Resonances and Magnetic Circular Dichroism in Valence-Band Photoemission Predicted at Ni 2p Threshold for Ferromagnetic Nickel

Abstract

We report the calculation of the 3d X-ray photoemission spectrum (3d XPS) in ferromagnetic Ni at the Ni 2p threshold energy with circularly polarized light on the basis of an extended Anderson model, which includes intraatomic multipole electron-electron interactions. Our study predicts that a strong resonance and a magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) pattern characteristic of the resonant photoemission 3d⁸+ω→2p⁵3d⁹→3d⁷+ε appear with increasing incident photon energy across the satellite region of the Ni 2p_3⁄2 absorption. We consequently propose a new critical check of the existence of 3d⁸ (“two-hole bound state”) in the initial state, which has been discussed to explain the Ni 2p X-ray absorption and its MCD, and 3d⁷ (“three-hole bound state”) in the final state of 3d XPS.