This thesis presents a set of measurements of spin asymmetries from the heavy atoms krypton and rubidium. These investigations allow examination of the spin orbit interaction for electron scattering from the target atoms. These measurements utilise spin polarized electrons in a crossed beam experiment to measure the Sherman function from krypton and the A2 parameter from the 52P state of rubidium. The measurements utilise a new spin polarized electron energy spectrometer which is designed to operate in the 20-200 eV range. The apparatus consists of a standard gallium arsenide polarized electron source, a 180 degrees hemispherical electron analyser to detect scattered electrons and a Mott detector to measure electron polarization. A series of measurements of the elastic Sherman function were performed on krypton at incident electron energies of 20, 50, 60, 65, 100, 150 and 200 eV. Scattered electrons are measured over an angular range of 30-130 degrees. These measurements are compared with calculations of the Sherman function which are obtained by solution of the Dirac-Fock equations. These calculations include potentials to account for dynamic polarization and loss of flux into inelastic channels. At the energies 50, 60 and 65 eV, experimental agreement with theory is seen to be extremely dependent on the theoretical model used. Measurement of the A2 parameter from the combined 52P1/2,3/2 state of rubidium are performed at an incident energy of 20 eV. The scattered electrons are measured over an angular range of 30-110 degrees. This measurement represents the first such measurement of this parameter for rubidium. Agreement with preliminary calculations performed using the R-matrix technique are good and are expected to improve with further theoretical development.

A novel experimental setup has been realized to measure weak magnetic moments which can be modulated at radio frequencies (~1–5 MHz). Using an optimized radio-frequency (RF) pickup coil and lock-in amplifier, an experimental sensitivity of 10 -15 Am2 corresponding to 10 -18 emu has been demonstrated with a one second time constant. The detection limit at room temperature is 9.3 10 -16 Am2/√Hz limited by Johnson noise of the coil. In order to demonstrate the sensitivity of this technique it was used to electrically detect the polarized spins in semiconductors in zero applied magnetic fields. For example in GaAs, the magnetic moment due to a small number (~ 7 x 108) of spin polarized electrons generated by polarization modulated optical radiation was detected. Spin polarization was generated by optical injection using circularly polarized light which is modulated rapidly using an electro-optic cell. The modulated spin polarization generates a weak time-varying magnetic field which is detected by the sensitive radio-frequency coil. Using a radio-frequency lock-in amplifier, clear signals were obtained for bulk GaAs and Ge samples from which an optical spin orientation efficiency of ~ 10–20% could be determined for Ge at 1342 nm excitation wavelength at 127 K. In the presence of a small external magnetic field, the signal decayed according to the Hanle Effect, from which a spin lifetime of 4.6 ± 1.0 ns for electrons in bulk Ge at 127 K was extracted. The spin dynamics in n-Ge was further explored and the temperature dependence of the spin lifetime was plotted for a temperature range of about 90 K to 180 K. The temperature dependence of the optical pumping efficiency was also measured though no quantitative conclusions could be derived. The signals observed for semi-insulating GaAs, n-GaAs, GaSb and CdTe which are direct gap semiconductors are much larger than expected (almost two orders of magnitude). An attempt was made to explain this unexpected behavior of these direct gap semiconductors using the spin hall effect.

Spin-polarized electron beam has not yet been produced from an unpolarized electron beam using Stern-Gerlach type spin filter, because of the Lorentz force and Heisenberg uncertainty principle. At present, electron spin detectors and filters work on the basis of spin-dependent scattering of an electron beam from crystal surfaces. Single channel efficiencies of all the spin detectors for electrons are orders of magnitudes lower than the ideal one. Specular reflection type spin-polarized low energy electron diffraction (SPLEED)-spin detectors are having higher single channel efficiencies compared to the conventional Mott detectors. Moreover, multichannel detection can be realized from specular reflection type SPLEED-spin detectors. They have higher effective efficiency than the ideal spin detector. In order to develop specular reflection type spin filter, it is important to develop a spin-polarized low energy electron diffraction system. In addition, SPLEED system allows us to study the spin-orbit and exchange scattering at crystal surfaces. The general direction of the thesis has been the development of spin-polarized low energy electron diffraction (SPLEED) system. This system has been used to investigate the spin-orbit interactions on Ir(100) surface and exchange interactions of Fe grown on Ir(100). The thesis is organized into chapters as follows. Chapter 1 introduce the reader to some of the basic concepts of polarized electrons and the evolution of spin-polarized electron sources and detectors. Sources of polarized electrons are discussed with emphasis on photocathodes such as GaAs and strained GaAs. Widely used spin detector is the Mott detector which works in the higher energy range. The working principle of the Mott detector is discussed. Commonly used spin detector in the lower energy range is the LEED detector. The concept of the LEED detector is also discussed. Working principle and recent developments of specular reflection type SPLEED spin filters are introduced. Evolution of electron spin detector is discussed towards the end of the chapter. Chapter 2 discusses about the two instruments designed and developed during the course of the thesis. The first one is a spin-polarized low energy electron diffraction system working in the reflected electron pulse counting mode in UHV. This system is capable of measuring spin asymmetries due to spin-orbit interaction and exchange interaction. This instrument is useful in understanding structure and magnetism at surfaces as well as helps to develop new spin polarimeter based on SPLEED by evaluating spin asymmetries from different surfaces. All instruments connected to SPLEED system, measurement protocol and controlling software are discussed with some details. Along with this, standard characterization tools such as X-ray diffraction and magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements are discussed. The second instrument is a novel quadratic magneto-optic Kerr effect measurement system using permanent magnets, which is simple, compact and cost-effective. We have used rotating field method to extract QMOKE component in saturation. So there is no need for precise real-time measurement of magnitude and direction of the magnetic field as in the case of vector magnet. This instrument can easily quantify QMOKE coefficients for ferrimagnetic and ferromagnetic thin films and single crystals. Chapter 3 discusses SPLEED experiments carried out on Ir(100)-(1×5)-Hex and Ir(100)-(1×2+2×1)-O surfaces. The surface structure and surface preparation techniques are discussed. The stability of the Ir(100)-(1×5)-Hex surface is evaluated by monitoring the spin asymmetry as the function of time. Within 25 hours after the surface preparation, the profile of the spin asymmetry and the reflected electron count for Ir(100)-(1×5)-Hex surface resembles that of hydrogen adsorbed Ir(100)-(1×5)-H surface. The electron energy-angle of incidence landscape of reflectivity, spin asymmetry and figure of merit are recorded for Ir(100)-(1×2+2×1)-O surface. Many wide regions with a large figure of merit are identified in the E- landscape. Chapter 4 reports SPLEED experiments carried out on Ir(100)-(1×5)-H surface. The comparison between asymmetries evaluated for the Ir(100)-(1×5)-Hex surface after 25 hours and Ir(100)-(1×5)-H surface suggests that Ir(100)-(1×5)-Hex surface is transforming to Ir(100)-(1×5)-H surface, in 25 hours. This can be due to the adsorption of more than four Langmuir of residual hydrogen during this time. The energy-angle landscape of reflectivity, asymmetry and figure of merit are recorded for Ir(100)-(1×5)-H surface in an energy range 20 eV to 100 eV and angle range 10 to 60 . Many regions are identified as the working point for specular reflection type spin filter based on SPLEED. The surface structure and surface preparation techniques are discussed. The stability of the surface is also evaluated. Chapter 5 investigates the growth and magnetic properties of Fe(100) film on Ir(100)-(1×1), Ir(100)-(1×5)-Hex and Ir(100)-(1×2+2×1)-O surfaces. LEED, MEED, LMOKE and QMOKE studies were presented. The growth is found to be layer-by-layer at least up to 20 monolayers (ML) at room temperature. At higher deposition temperature, the MEED oscillations disappear around 3-5 ML. Magnetic anisotropy of the Fe(100) film grown on Ir(100)-(1×2+2×1)-O surfaces is evaluated using LMOKE measurement using Kerr microscope. Simultaneous in-situ LMOKE and MEED measurements were carried out during the deposition. Ferromagnetic ordering with an in-plane easy axis starts above 4.5 ML at room temperature. The Kerr rotation normalized by thickness is evaluated in the pseudomorphic regime and strain relaxed regime. The probing depth of the MOKE is found to be around 14 nm in Fe(100)/Ir(100). An antisymmetric component is observed in the re-magnetization loop measured using MOKE. This antisymmetric loop arises due to the quadratic magneto-optic coupling which is separated by symmetrization and antisymmetrization procedure. The observed quadratic magneto-optic coupling suggests that the analysis based on the assumption that the magneto-optic coupling is linear in magnetization has to be modified. In order to quantify the quadratic magneto-optic coupling parameters, a QMOKE measurement system is developed and measurements were carried out. Chapter 6 discusses SPLEED experiments carried out on various thicknesses of Fe(100) film. Fe(100) films grown on Ir(100) substrate with the thickness less than or equal to 4 ML is not ferromagnetic with in-plane easy axis at room temperature. The non-zero exchange asymmetry observed for 5 ML and above indicates the presence of ferromagnetic ordering. A difference in the profile of exchange asymmetry is observed between pseudomorphic and strain relaxed regime. Large spin-orbit asymmetry is observed for 1 ML and 2 ML Fe(100) which is unexpected from a low atomic number (Z) material. The reason for large spin-orbit asymmetry is still unknown. The energy-angle landscape of reflectivity, exchange asymmetry, spin-orbit asymmetry and figure of merit were evaluated for 21 ML of Fe(100). Many working points were identified for different types multichannel spin filter based on exchange interaction Finally, the various results are summarized and a broad outlook is given.