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By means of Magnetic Circular Dichroism in X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy we investigated the magnetic properties of fct Fe films stabilised by epitaxial growth on the Cu(100) surface. These are compared to bcc like Fe films. The films were characterised in situ by means of LEED, AES and XAS for order and cleanness. Low temperature ( 50 K) and angle dependent measurements are reported for thicknesses around 3.5 (fct (5 x 1) phase) and 20 (bcc phase) monolayers. A much stronger MCD response is obtained from the thinner films (perpendicular magnetisation). The MCD sum rules enabled us to determine the orbital and spin contributions to the magnetic moment for the two phases. The results are compared to theory.

Core-level x-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements have been performed at the L3,2 edges of Fe and Co thin films. The degree of source coherence was varied using soft x rays from five different beam lines. We observe an increase of the L edge resonance intensities relative to the continuum states which we propose is due to the presence of transverse coherence in the exciting radiation.