Grazing-incidence resonant elastic x-ray scattering of skyrmion lattices in bulk MnSi

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Abstract
Magnetic skyrmions are spin textures with nontrivial topology that form two-dimensional hexagonal lattices (SkX) in chiral magnets. Element-specific reciprocal-space characterization of skyrmion lattices with soft x-rays commonly relies on transmission geometries, which require thinning of bulk crystals and can modify their magnetic properties. Here, we show that resonant elastic x-ray scattering in a grazing-incidence geometry (GIREXS) provides a nondestructive and geometrically flexible probe of skyrmion lattices in bulk materials. Using MnSi as a model system, GIREXS resolves the helical, conical, and skyrmion-lattice states through their characteristic magnetic satellite peaks and yields the skyrmion wave vector. By operating just above the critical angle ( α c ≈ 1.6 ° in MnSi at the Mn L 3 edge), the method achieves a probing depth of approximately 3 nm , tunable up to approximately 20 nm via the incidence angle, while maintaining full reciprocal-space access to the in-plane magnetic correlations. The grazing-incidence approach circumvents the structural Bragg-peak constraints that limit conventional reflection resonant elastic x-ray scattering (REXS) at fixed soft-x-ray energies. Our measurements establish GIREXS as a practical method for studying magnetic superstructures in bulk crystals, providing direct reciprocal-space access to magnetic satellite reflections and a basis for future depth-controlled, element-selective investigations of complex spin textures.
Funding Information
  • Diamond Light Source (SI8703)
  • Diamond Light Source (SI9117)
  • Diamond Light Source (SI9595)
  • Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (N032128/1)
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (107745057)
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (492547816)
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (403191981)
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (PF393/19)
  • European Research Council (291079)
  • European Research Council (788031)
  • MCQST (390814868)

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