- Letter
resonant inelastic x-ray scattering natural circular dichroism
Phys. Rev. B 113, L161116 – Published 21 April, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/pgjx-znm3
Abstract
Natural circular dichroism (NCD) provides fundamental insight into molecular chirality and stereochemical environments. Extending this concept into the hard-x-ray regime enables element-specific and site-selective chiral sensitivity inaccessible to optical wavelengths. Here, we demonstrate that resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) can be used to probe NCD in the enantiomeric model compound [Co(en). Using high-resolution detection of Co emission under circularly polarized excitation at the cobalt pre-edge, we observe pronounced dichroic behavior directly linked to the Co-centered chirality. The RIXS-NCD signal reaches of the pre-edge maximum—more than twice the amplitude of the previously reported x-ray NCD signal for the same compound—and exhibits the expected angular dependence for the crystal's symmetry. Two-dimensional RIXS-NCD maps further reveal strong helicity-dependent features across both excitation and emission energies, providing a richer description of the chiral electronic structure. These results establish RIXS-NCD as a photon-in–photon-out methodology for investigating natural optical activity with elemental and orbital specificity, paving the way for future applications to complex chiral and bioinspired materials.