Anisotropic x-ray magnetic linear dichroism at the L_2,3 edges of cubic Fe, Co, and Ni: Ab initio calculations and model theory

We present an ab initio investigation of the x-ray magnetic linear dichroism (XMLD) in cubic Fe, Co, and Ni. We demonstrate that the XMLD spectra can be understood in terms of a simple model based on the energy derivatives of the 3d partial densities of states and the exchange splitting of the core levels, while the valence-band spin-orbit interaction plays only a marginal role for the overall shape of the spectra. Furthermore, our calculations predict the existence of a huge magnetocrystalline anisotropy of the XMLD spectra, which is of the same size as the XMLD spectrum itself. We provide a qualitative explanation of the anisotropy in terms of the above-mentioned model and suggest its experimental use for obtaining more information about the unoccupied d states.