Soft X‐Ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism of Vanadium in the Metal–Insulator Two‐Phase Region of Paramagnetic V 2 O 3 Doped with 1.1% Chromium

V 2 O 3 doped with 1.1% Cr is investigated at its isostructural correlation‐driven metal–insulator transition near room temperature in its paramagnetic state with X‐ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) spectroscopy in external magnetic fields. A relative XMCD amplitude of about 2 permille is observed at the L 2,3 absorption edges of vanadium as expected for magnetic moment per mass values of the order of 1 J T −1  kg −1 from magnetometry and the literature. Across the metal–insulator transition, the vanadium XMCD spectral shape significantly changes. According to atomic multiplet simulations, these changes are due to a changing orbital occupation indicating a changing phase composition. According to estimates used in this study, the dipole moment of the spin density distribution 7 ⟨ T z ⟩in the bulk increases such that the effective vanadium spin moment increases by a few percent with temperature in the two‐phase region. Thereby, it partially compensates for the decrease in the relative XMCD amplitude due to a decreasing alignment of the paramagnetic moments. After a few minor temperature cycles, the sample is in a two‐phase state in which the XMCD and X‐ray linear dichroism spectra hardly depend on the temperature, and the specific electrical resistance is intermediate, showing only a weak sign of the metal–insulator transition.