Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 22: Magnetic Measurement Methods

MA 22.8: Talk

Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 12:45–13:00, HSZ 403

Theory of Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering by Collective Magnetic Excitations — •Maurits Haverkort — Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstrasse 1, 70569 Stuttgart Germany

Magnetic excitations in solids are traditionally investigated with inelastic neutron scattering. This technique has led to a better understanding of magnetism in general and shaped the thinking of physicists in terms of magnons as the magnetic quasiparticles present within a solid. It is important that the interaction of neutrons with the magnetic moment is well understood and can be approximated by a function linear in spin operators.

Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) is a novel tool to measure magnetic quasiparticles (magnons) and the incoherent spectral weight, as well as multiple magnons up to very high energy losses, in small samples, thin films, and multilayers, complementary to neutron scattering. I present a tractable theory for the resonant inelastic x-ray scattering of magnons. The low-energy transition operator is written as a product of local spin operators and fundamental x-ray absorption spectral functions. This leads to simple selection rules. The scattering cross section linear (quadratic) in spin operators is proportional to the fundamental magnetic circular (linear) dichroic spectral function.