. The control of magnetic anisotropy is a key issue in the development of molecule-metal interfaces for magnetic applications, both at the single-molecule 12 and extended-film level 13 . In metallic multilayers used as storage media or spin-valve devices at present, tuning of the magnetic anisotropy is achieved either by a careful choice of the overlayer/substrate composition and thickness or by oxidation of the magnetic elements 11,14,15 . Recent studies showed that the magnetization direction of surface-supported paramagnetic molecules can be controlled through exchange coupling with a magnetic film, which provides robust ferromagnetic properties but does not enable each molecule to be switched independently from the substrate or its neighbours 16,17 . Alternatively, theoretical work suggested that the sign of magnetic anisotropy could be reversed in metal-organic complexes by exploiting oxidation processes that affect the hybridization of molecular orbitals with metal states carrying non-zero orbital magnetization 18 . Here, we investigate supramolecular self-assembly on a non-magnetic Cu surface as a means to produce two-dimensional

The DEIMOS (Dichroism Experimental Installation for Magneto-Optical Spectroscopy) beamline was part of the second phase of the beamline development at French Synchrotron SOLEIL (Source Optimisée de Lumière à Energie Intermédiaire du LURE) and opened to users in March 2011. It delivers polarized soft x-rays to perform x-ray absorption spectroscopy, x-ray magnetic circular dichroism, and x-ray linear dichroism in the energy range 350-2500 eV. The beamline has been optimized for stability and reproducibility in terms of photon flux and photon energy. The main end-station consists in a cryo-magnet with 2 split coils providing a 7 T magnetic field along the beam or 2 T perpendicular to the beam with a controllable temperature on the sample from 370 K down to 1.5 K.

The perfomance of hematite and Ti-substituted hematite nanorods as photoanodes for solar water splitting was quantitavely evaluated from photoelectrochemical point of view. The nanostructure, morphology and chemical / electronic structure...

The HERMES beamline (High Efficiency and Resolution beamline dedicated to X-ray Microscopy and Electron Spectroscopy), built at Synchrotron SOLEIL (Saint-Auban, France), is dedicated to soft X-ray microscopy. The beamline combines two complementary microscopy methods: XPEEM (X-ray Photo Emitted Electron Microscopy) and STXM (Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy) with an aim to reach spatial resolution below 20 nm and to fully exploit the local spectroscopic capabilities of the two microscopes. The availability of the two methods within the same beamline enables the users to select the appropriate approach to study their specific case in terms of sample environment, spectroscopy methods, probing depth etc. In this paper a general description of the beamline and its design are presented. The performance and specifications of the beamline will be reviewed in detail. Moreover, the article is aiming to demonstrate how the beamline performances have been specifically optimized to fulfill the specific requirements of a soft X-ray microscopy beamline in terms of flux, resolution, beam size etc. Special attention has been dedicated to overcome some limiting and hindering problems that are usually encountered on soft X-ray beamlines such as carbon contamination, thermal stability and spectral purity.

Magnetic skyrmions are topological spin textures that hold great promise as nanoscale information carriers in non-volatile memory and logic devices. While room-temperature magnetic skyrmions and their current-induced motion were recently demonstrated, the stray field resulting from their finite magnetisation and their topological charge limit their minimum size and reliable motion. Antiferromagnetic skyrmions allow to lift these limitations owing to their vanishing magnetisation and net zero topological charge, promising ultra-small and ultra-fast skyrmions. Here, we report on the observation of isolated skyrmions in compensated synthetic antiferromagnets at zero field and room temperature using X-ray magnetic microscopy. Micromagnetic simulations and an analytical model confirm the chiral antiferromagnetic nature of these skyrmions and allow the identification of the physical mechanisms controlling their size and stability. Finally, we demonstrate the nucleation of synthetic antiferromagnetic skyrmions via local current injection and ultra-fast laser excitation.