Proposal for detecting spin-chirality terms in Mott insulators via resonant inelastic x-ray scattering

Abstract

We consider the question of whether resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) can be used to detect many-body excitations that are coupled to the spin-chirality terms S_i . (S_j x S_k) in a Mott insulator. We find that while the spin-chirality terms are in general absent in the usual experimental setups of RIXS, there are prospects of realizing such terms if one considers instead the scattering near a pre-edge. We then perform detailed analyses for the square and the kagome lattices, and brief analyses for the triangular and the honeycomb lattices, in which we show that the spin-chirality terms are indeed present in all the above lattices, but that they occur at a higher order in our expansion for the kagome and the honeycomb lattices. The merit of using RIXS in addition to Raman spectroscopy to detect excitations that are coupled to the spin-chirality terms is also briefly discussed in the context of the emergent gauge boson in the U(1) Dirac spin liquid.

9 pages, 9 figures; v2: minor revisions, concurrent with the published version

References in corpus (4)

• Inelastic Light Scattering From Correlated Electrons
• Properties of an algebraic spin liquid on the kagome lattice
• Observation of a 500meV Collective Mode in La${}_{2-x}$Sr${}_x$CuO${}_4$ and Nd${}_2$CuO${}_4$
• Interplay of thermal and quantum spin fluctuations on the kagome lattice

Cited by in corpus (17)

• Thermal Hall Effect of Spins in a Paramagnet
• Constraints on Jones transmission matrices from time-reversal invariance and discrete spatial symmetries
• Chiral RKKY interaction in Pr2Ir2O7
• A Proposal to Use Neutron Scattering to Measure Scalar Spin Chirality Fluctuations in Kagome Lattices
• Probing spinon nodal structures in three-dimensional Kitaev spin liquids
• Quantum fluctuations in the order parameter of quantum skyrmion crystals
• Spinon-Phonon Interaction in Algebraic Spin Liquids
• Fingerprints of quantum spin ice in Raman scattering
• Signatures of indirect K-edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering on magnetic excitations in triangular lattice antiferromagnet
• Probing Hidden Orders with Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering
• Dyon condensation in topological Mott insulators
• Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering study of vector chiral ordered kagome antiferromagnet
• Hydrodynamics of quantum spin liquids
• Torque equilibrium spin wave theory study of anisotropy and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction effects on the indirect K$-$ edge RIXS spectrum of a triangular lattice antiferromagnet
• Overscreened Kondo fixed point in S=1 spin liquid
• Detection of chiral spin fluctuations driven by frustration in Mott insulators
• Effect of Dirac Spinons on ARPES signatures of Herbertsmithe