Absolute helicity-dependent photoabsorption cross sections of Fe thin films and quantitative evaluation of magnetic-moment determination

Energy and helicity-dependent absolute photoabsorption cross sections at the Fe $L_{2,3}$ edge, measured in transmission from a supported ultrathin Fe film, are presented. These cross sections and semiempirical total-electron-yield (TEY) equations are used to show that the effects of saturation/self-absorption in the TEY spectra, as reflected in the quantitative evaluation of magnetic moments, can be quite severe. These conclusions are confirmed by directly comparing the data obtained simultaneously by TEY and transmission.