Unraveling Orbital Correlations via Magnetic Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering

Abstract

Although orbital degrees of freedom are a factor of fundamental importance in strongly correlated transition metal compounds, orbital correlations and dynamics remain very difficult to access, in particular by neutron scattering. Via a direct calculation of scattering amplitudes we show that instead magnetic resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) does reveal orbital correlations. In contrast to neutron scattering, the intensity of the magnetic excitations in RIXS depends very sensitively on both the symmetry of the orbitals that spins occupy, and on photon polarizations. We show in detail how this effect allows magnetic RIXS to distinguish between alternating orbital ordered and ferro-orbital (or orbital liquid) states.

7 pages, 4 figures. Supplemental material added

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• Spin-Orbital Order Modified by Orbital Dilution in Transition Metal Oxides: From Spin Defects to Frustrated Spins Polarizing Host Orbitals
• Variational tensor network renormalization in imaginary time: Two-dimensional quantum compass model at finite temperature
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• Fluctuation control of non-thermal orbital order
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• Probing magnetic orbitals and Berry curvature with circular dichroism in resonant inelastic X-ray scattering
• Ultrafast control of spin-orbital separation probed with time-resolved RIXS
• Theoretical approach to resonant inelastic x-ray scattering in iron-based superconductors at the energy scale of the superconducting gap
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• Indirect K-edge bimagnon resonant inelastic X-ray scattering spectrum of $\alpha$-FeTe
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• Circular dichroism in resonant inelastic x-ray scattering from birefringence in CuO