Magnetic linear dichroism of photoemission from ultrathin manganese films on silicon

The magnetic linear dichroism (MLD) effect in photoemission of Mn 3$p$ electrons was used to study magnetic properties of Mn films (to 2.5 nm thick) grown on the Si(111)7 $\times$ 7 surface at room temperature and manganese silicide films grown by solid-phase epitaxy. The experiments were performed using linearly polarized light with a photon energy of 130 eV, incident at an angle of 30$^\circ$ to the sample surface. Photoelectron spectra were measured in a narrow solid angle focused along the normal to the surface for two opposite sample magnetization directions in the surface plane, perpendicular to the polarization vector of the light wave. It was shown that the MLD effect characteristic of films with high-temperature ferromagnetism appears after depositing $\sim$ 2 nm Mn. The formation of manganese silicides upon annealings of the sample with deposited 2.5 nm Mn results in the disappearance of the MLD effect.