High-resolution resonant inelastic soft X-ray scattering as a probe of the crystal electrical field in lanthanides demonstrated for the case of CeRh2Si2

Abstract

The magnetic properties of rare earth compounds are usually well captured by assuming a fully localized f shell and only considering the Hund's rule ground state multiplet split by a crystal electrical field (CEF). Currently, the standard technique for probing CEF excitations in lanthanides is inelastic neutron scattering. Here we show that with the recent leap in energy resolution, resonant inelastic soft X-ray scattering has become a serious alternative for looking at CEF excitations with some distinct advantages compared to INS. As an example we study the CEF scheme in CeRh2Si2, a system that has been intensely studied for more than two decades now but for which no consensus has been reached yet as to its CEF scheme. We used two new features that have only become available very recently in RIXS, high energy resolution of about 30 meV as well as polarization analysis in the scattered beam, to find a unique CEF description for CeRh2Si2. The result agrees well with previous INS and magnetic susceptibility measurements. Due to its strong resonant character, RIXS is applicable to very small samples, presents very high cross sections for all lanthanides, and further benefits from the very weak coupling to phonon excitation. The rapid progress in energy resolution of RIXS spectrometers is making this technique increasingly attractive for the investigation of the CEF scheme in lanthanides.

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• Polarization resolved Cu $L_3$-edge resonant inelastic x-ray scattering of orbital and spin excitations in NdBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$
• Fully gapped s-wave superconductivity enhanced by magnetic criticality in heavy fermion system
• Orbital selective coupling in CeRh${}_3$B${}_2$: co-existence of high Curie and high Kondo temperature
• A RIXS investigation of the crystal-field splitting of Sm${}^{3+}$ in SmB${}_6$
• Kondo quasiparticle dynamics observed by resonant inelastic x-ray scattering
• Investigation of metamagnetism and crystal-field splitting in pseudo-hexagonal CeRh${}_3$Si${}_2$
• In-plane anisotropy of the single-$q$ and multiple-$q$ ordered phases in the antiferromagnetic metal CeRh${}_2$Si${}_2$ unveiled by the bulk measurements under uniaxial stress and neutron scattering
• Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering study of doping and temperature dependence of low-energy excitations in La${}_{1-x}$Sr${}_x$VO${}_3$
• A crossover from Kondo semiconductor to metallic antiferromagnet with $5d$-electron doping in CeFe${}_2$Al${}_{10}$
• Distinct effect of Kondo physics on crystal field splitting in electron and spin spectroscopies