Intrinsic and extrinsic x-ray absorption effects in soft x-ray diffraction from the superstructure in magnetite

We studied the (0012) diffraction peak in the low-temperature phase of magnetite (Fe3O4) using resonant soft x-ray diffraction at the Fe-L2,3 and O-K resonances. We studied both molecular-beam- epitaxy grown thin films and in situ cleaved single crystals. From the comparison, we have been able to determine quantitatively the contribution of intrinsic absorption effects, thereby arriving at a consistent result for the (0012) diffraction peak spectrum. Our data also allow for the identification of extrinsic effects, e.g., for a detailed modeling of the spectra in case a dead surface layer is present that is only absorbing photons but does not contribute to the scattering signal.