Evidence of quadrupolar transitions in the circular dichroism at the neodymium L2 and L3 edges

The temperature dependence of the x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at both the Nd L-2 and L-3 edges in Nd2Fe14B has been studied to ascertain the multipolar nature of the features in the dichroic spectra below the absorption edges. As this compound exhibits a spin reorientation transition at low temperatures, XMCD reflects the modification of the angle between the photon wave vector and the magnetization direction as a function of temperature. The angular dependence of the features below both the L-2 and L-3 absorption edges is determined to correspond to that proposed for quadrupolar transitions.