Saturation and self-absorption effects in the angle-dependent 2p3d resonant inelastic X-ray scattering spectra of Co.

Angle-dependent 2p3d resonant inelastic X-ray scattering spectra of a LaCoO single crystal and a 55 nm LaCoO film on a SrTiO substrate are presented. Theoretical calculation shows that, with ∼20 meV resolved Co 2p3d resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS), the excited states of the isotropic A(O) ground state are split by 3d spin-orbit coupling, which can be distinguished via their angular dependence. However, strong self-absorption and saturation effects distort the spectra of the LaCoO single crystal and limit the observation of small angular dependence.

Possible Tomonaga-Luttinger spin liquid state in the spin-1/2 inequilateral diamond-chain compound KCuAlO(SO).

KCuAlO(SO) is a highly one-dimensional spin-1/2 inequilateral diamond-chain antiferromagnet. Spinon continuum and spin-singlet dimer excitations are observed in the inelastic neutron scattering spectra, which is in excellent agreement with a theoretical prediction: a dimer-monomer composite structure, where the dimer is caused by strong antiferromagnetic (AFM) coupling and the monomer forms an almost isolated quantum AFM chain controlling low-energy excitations. Moreover, muon spin rotation/relaxation spectroscopy shows no long-range ordering down to 90 mK, which is roughly three orders of magnitude lower than the exchange interaction of the quantum AFM chain.

Estimation of bonding nature using diamagnetic susceptibility.

A chemical bond includes both covalent and ionic characteristics. We develop an experimental method to estimate the degree of each contribution based on magnetic susceptibility measurements, in which Pascal's scheme for Larmor diamagnetism is combined with electronegativity. The applicability to metal hydrides is also shown.