Femtosecond dynamics of momentum-dependent magnetic excitations from resonant inelastic x-ray scattering in CaCu2 O3

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Valentina Bisogni - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden, Paul Scherrer Institute (Author)
  • Stefanos Kourtis - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Claude Monney - , Paul Scherrer Institute, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society (Author)
  • Kejin Zhou - , Paul Scherrer Institute (Author)
  • Roberto Kraus - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Chinnathambi Sekar - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Vladimir Strocov - , Paul Scherrer Institute (Author)
  • Bernd Büchner - , Chair of Experimental Solid State Physics, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Jeroen Van Den Brink - , Chair of Solid State Theory, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Lucio Braicovich - , Polytechnic University of Milan (Author)
  • Thorsten Schmitt - , Paul Scherrer Institute (Author)
  • Maria Daghofer - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Jochen Geck - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)

Abstract

Taking spinon excitations in the quantum antiferromagnet CaCu2O3 as an example, we demonstrate that femtosecond dynamics of magnetic electronic excitations can be probed by direct resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS). To this end, we isolate the contributions of single and double spin-flip excitations in experimental RIXS spectra, identify the physical mechanisms that cause them, and determine their respective time scales. By comparing theory and experiment, we find that double spin flips need a finite amount of time to be generated, rendering them sensitive to the core-hole lifetime, whereas single spin flips are, to a very good approximation, independent of it. This shows that RIXS can grant access to time-domain dynamics of excitations and illustrates how RIXS experiments can distinguish between excitations in correlated electron systems based on their different time dependence.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number147401
JournalPhysical review letters
Volume112
Issue number14
Publication statusPublished - 7 Apr 2014
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0002-2438-0672/work/158767777

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas