Revelli A, Moretti Sala M, Monaco G, Becker P, Bohatý L, Hermanns M, Koethe T C, Fröhlich T, Warzanowski P, Lorenz T, Streltsov S V, van Loosdrecht P H M, Khomskii D I, van den Brink J, Grüninger M
II. Physikalisches Institut, Universität zu Köln, Zülpicher Strasse 77, D-50937 Köln, Germany.
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, BP 220, F-38043 Grenoble Cedex, France.
Sci Adv. 2019 Jan 18;5(1):eaav4020. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aav4020. eCollection 2019 Jan.
Young's archetypal double-slit experiment forms the basis for modern diffraction techniques: The elastic scattering of waves yields an interference pattern that captures the real-space structure. Here, we report on an inelastic incarnation of Young's experiment and demonstrate that resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) measures interference patterns, which reveal the symmetry and character of electronic excited states in the same way as elastic scattering does for the ground state. A prototypical example is provided by the quasi-molecular electronic structure of insulating BaCeIrO with structural Ir dimers and strong spin-orbit coupling. The double "slits" in this resonant experiment are the highly localized core levels of the two Ir atoms within a dimer. The clear double-slit-type sinusoidal interference patterns that we observe allow us to characterize the electronic excitations, demonstrating the power of RIXS interferometry to unravel the electronic structure of solids containing, e.g., dimers, trimers, ladders, or other superstructures.
波的弹性散射产生干涉图样，该图样捕捉了实空间结构。在此，我们报告杨氏实验的非弹性变体，并证明共振非弹性X射线散射（RIXS）可测量干涉图样，其揭示电子激发态的对称性和特性的方式与弹性散射揭示基态的方式相同。绝缘的BaCeIrO的准分子电子结构提供了一个典型例子，其具有结构Ir二聚体和强自旋轨道耦合。该共振实验中的双“缝”是二聚体内两个Ir原子的高度局域化的芯能级。我们观察到的清晰的双缝型正弦干涉图样使我们能够表征电子激发，证明了RIXS干涉测量法在解析包含二聚体、三聚体、梯子或其他超结构的固体电子结构方面的能力。
