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We report on a combined experimental and theoretical study on CrI3 single crystals by employing the polarization dependence of resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS). Our investigations reveal multiple Cr 3d orbital splitting (dd excitations) as well as magnetic dichroism (MD) in the RIXS spectra which is evidence of spin-flip in the dd excitation. Interestingly, the dd excitation energies are similar on both sides of the ferromagnetic transition temperature, TC of 61 K, although MD in RIXS is predominant at 0.4 tesla magnetic field below TC. This demonstrates that the ferromagnetic superexchange interaction that is responsible for the intra-atomic exchange field, is vanishingly small compared to local exchange field that comes from exchange and correlation interaction among the interacting Cr 3d orbitals. The investigation presented here demonstrate that the electronic structure of bulk CrI3 is complex in the sense that dynamical electron correlations are significant. The recorded RIXS spectra reported here reveal clearly resolved Cr 3d intra-orbital dd excitations that represent transitions between electronic levels that are heavily influenced by multi-configuration effects. Our calculations employing the crystal field TTmultiplet theory taking into account the Cr 3d hybridization with the ligand valence states and the full multiplet structure due to intra-atomic and crystal field interactions in Oh and D3d symmetry, clearly reproduced the dichroic trend in experimental RIXS spectra., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

The possibility of suddenly ionized molecules undergoing extremely fast electron hole dynamics prior to significant structural change was first recognized more than 20 years ago and termed charge migration. The accurate probing of ultrafast electron hole dynamics requires measurements that have both sufficient temporal resolution and can detect the localization of a specific hole within the molecule. We report an investigation of the dynamics of inner valence hole states in isopropanol where we use an x-ray pump/x-ray probe experiment, with site and state-specific probing of a transient hole state localized near the oxygen atom in the molecule, together with an ab initio theoretical treatment. We record the signature of transient hole dynamics and make the first observation of dynamics driven by frustrated Auger-Meitner transitions. We verify that the hole lifetime is consistent with our theoretical prediction. This state-specific measurement paves the way to widespread application for observations of transient hole dynamics localized in space and time in molecules and thus to charge transfer phenomena that are fundamental in chemical and material physics.

A non-trivial balance between Coulomb repulsion and kinematic effects determines the electronic structure of correlated electron materials. The use electromagnetic fields strong enough to rival these native microscopic interactions allows us to study the electronic response as well as the timescales and energies involved in using quantum effects for possible applications. We use element-specific transient x-ray absorption spectroscopy and high-harmonic generation to measure the response to ultrashort off-resonant optical fields in the prototypical correlated electron insulator NiO. Surprisingly, fields of up to 0.22 V/{\AA} leads to no detectable changes on the correlated Ni 3d-orbitals contrary to previous predictions. A transient directional charge transfer is uncovered, a behavior that is captured by first-principles theory. Our results highlight the importance of retardation effects in electronic screening, and pinpoints a key challenge in functionalizing correlated materials for ultrafast device operation., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure, supplemental material not included in document

Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) provides remarkable opportunities to interrogate ultrafast dynamics in liquids. Here we use RIXS to study the fundamentally and practically important hydroxyl radical in liquid water, OH(aq). Impulsive ionization of pure liquid water produced a short-lived population of OH(aq), which was probed using femtosecond x-rays from an x-ray free-electron laser. We find that RIXS reveals localized electronic transitions that are masked in the ultraviolet absorption spectrum by strong charge-transfer transitions -- thus providing a means to investigate the evolving electronic structure and reactivity of the hydroxyl radical in aqueous and heterogeneous environments. First-principles calculations provide interpretation of the main spectral features., Comment: 40 pages, 10 figures

X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) are the only sources currently able to produce bright few-fs pulses with tunable photon energies from 100 eV to more than 10 keV. Due to the stochastic SASE operating principles and other technical issues the output pulses are subject to large fluctuations, making it necessary to characterize the x-ray pulses on every shot for data sorting purposes. We present a technique that applies machine learning tools to predict x-ray pulse properties using simple electron beam and x-ray parameters as input. Using this technique at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), we report mean errors below 0.3 eV for the prediction of the photon energy at 530 eV and below 1.6 fs for the prediction of the delay between two x-ray pulses. We also demonstrate spectral shape prediction with a mean agreement of 97%. This approach could potentially be used at the next generation of high-repetition-rate XFELs to provide accurate knowledge of complex x-ray pulses at the full repetition rate., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures

We show the first evidence of dissociation during resonant inelastic soft X-ray scattering. Carbon and oxygen K-shell and sulfur L-shell resonant and non-resonant X-ray emission spectra were measured using monochromatic synchrotron radiation for excitation and ionization. After sulfur, L2,3 -> {\pi}*, {\sigma}* excitation, atomic lines are observed in the emission spectra as a consequence of competition between de-excitation and dissociation. In contrast the carbon and oxygen spectra show weaker line shape variations and no atomic lines. The spectra are compared to results from ab initio calculations and the discussion of the dissociation paths is based on calculated potential energy surfaces and atomic transition energies., Comment: 12 pages, 6 pictures, 2 tables, http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.59.4281

X-ray scattering spectra of Cu and Ni metals have been measured using monochromatic synchrotron radiation tuned from far above to more than 10 eV below threshold. Energy conservation in the scattering process is found to be sufficient to explain the modulation of the spectral shape, neglecting momentum conservation and channel interference. At excitation energies close to and above threshold, the emission spectra map the occupied local partial density of states. For the sub-threshold excitations, the high-energy flank of the inelastic scattering exhibits a Raman-type linear dispersion, and an asymmetric low energy tail develops. For excitation far below threshold the emission spectra are proportional to a convolution of the occupied and unoccuppied local partial densities of states., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.68.045119

High-resolution soft X-ray emission and absorption spectra near the N K-edge of wurtzite GaN are presented. The experimental data are interpreted in terms of band structure based full-potential electronic structure calculations. The absorption spectra, compared with calculations including core hole screening, indicate partial core hole screening in the absorption process. The resonant emission spectra demonstrate pronounced dispersions of the spectral structures, identifying effects of momentum conservation due to resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) with anisotropic electronic structure of GaN. In view of a wide range of optoelectronic applications of GaN, our findings on the momentum selectivity in RIXS can be utilized in development of GaN based nanoelectronics devices by controlling direct vs indirect band gap character of GaN nanostructures., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. B

Systematic experimental data on resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) in GaN near the N K-edge are presented for the first time. Excitation energy dependence of the spectral structures manifests the band structure effects originating from momentum selectivity of the RIXS process. This finding allows obtaining k-resolved band structure information for GaN crystals and nanostructures., Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, in press with Rapids of physica status solidi