25 years of magnetic x-ray dichroism

A historical overview of magnetic x-ray dichroism is presented. I describe the first theoretical and experimental results that have led to the development of this powerful technique for element-specific magnetometry. The theoretical progress of the sum rules is also described, starting with the spinorbit sum rule for the isotropic spectrum which led on to the spin and orbital moment sum rules for x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. The latter has been particularly useful to understand the magnetic anisotropy in thin films and multilayers. Further developments of circular dichroism in (resonant) photoemission and Auger, as well as x-ray detected optical activity, also are summarized. Currently, magnetic x-ray dichroism finds a wide application in x-ray spectroscopy and imaging for the study of magnetic materials and it is considered to be one of the most important discoveries in the field of magnetism in the last few decennia. It is hard to imagine modern research into magnetism without the aid of polarized x-rays.