Probing single magnon excitations in Sr${}_2$IrO${}_4$ using O $K$-edge resonant inelastic X-ray scattering

Abstract

Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) at the $L$-edge of transition metal elements is now commonly used to probe single magnon excitations. Here we show that single magnon excitations can also be measured with RIXS at the $K$-edge of the surrounding ligand atoms when the center heavy metal elements have strong spin-orbit coupling. This is demonstrated with oxygen $K$-edge RIXS experiments on the perovskite Sr${}_2$IrO${}_4$, where low energy peaks from single magnon excitations were observed. This new application of RIXS has excellent potential to be applied to a wide range of magnetic systems based on heavy elements, for which the $L$-edge RIXS energy resolutions in the hard X-ray region is usually poor.

References in corpus (4)

• Excitonic quasiparticles in a spin-orbit Mott insulator
• Giant Magnon Gap in Bilayer Iridate Sr3Ir2O7: Enhanced Pseudo-dipolar Interactions Near the Mott Transition
• Spin excitations in a single La${}_2$CuO${}_4$ layer
• Insights into the High Temperature Superconducting Cuprates from Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Dispersive Magnetic and Electronic Excitations in Iridate Perovskites Probed with Oxygen $K$-Edge Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering
• Direct observation of oxygen polarization in Sr${}_2$IrO${}_4$ by O $K$-edge x-ray magnetic circular dichroism