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  • Letter

Theory of dispersive optical phonons in resonant inelastic x-ray scattering experiments

Krzysztof Bieniasz1,2,*, Steve Johnston3,4,†, and Mona Berciu1,2,‡

  • 1Quantum Matter Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z4
  • 2Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z1
  • 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA
  • 4Institute for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA

  • *krzysztof.t.bieniasz@gmail.com
  • †sjohn145@utk.edu
  • ‡berciu@phas.ubc.ca
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Phys. Rev. B 105, L180302 – Published 9 May, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.105.L180302

Abstract

The community currently lacks a complete understanding of how resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) experiments probe the electron-phonon interaction in solids. For example, most theoretical models of this process have focused on dispersionless Einstein phonons. Using a recently developed momentum average variational approximation for computing RIXS spectra of band insulators, we examine the influence of both electron and phonon dispersion in the intermediate state of the scattering process. We find that the inclusion of either, and their mutual interplay, introduces significant momentum variations in the RIXS intensity, even for momentum-independent electron-phonon coupling. The phonon dispersion also induces nontrivial changes in the excitation line shapes, which can have a quantitative impact on the data analysis. These results highlight the considerable challenges of interpreting RIXS data in actual materials.

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Phys. Rev. B 105, L180302– Published 9 May, 2022
  • Received 13 January 2022
  • Accepted 18 April 2022
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