Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2011
We discuss the application of x-ray scattering and fluorescence to the problem of unravelling the relationship between the structural and magnetic properties of magnetic multilayers. Particular attention is paid to the use of grazing incidence diffuse scatter to determine the compositional gradient, out-of-plane roughness amplitude, in-plane correlation length and fractal parameter of buried interfaces. Anomalous scattering provides information on the local environment of specific atoms and grazing incidence fluorescence is a depth -sensitive probe of chemical composition. We present examples indicating the sensitivity limits and the reproducibility of the techniques, all from multiple layer structures of magnetic metals.