Pressure-induced spin transition and evolution of the electronic excitations of FeBO3: Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering results

• Published in: Europhysics letters 2014-11, Vol.108 (3), p.37001
• Main Authors: Kim, Jungho, Struzhkin, Viktor V., Ovchinnikov, Sergey G., Orlov, Yu, Shvyd'ko, Yu, Upton, M. H., Casa, D., Gavriliuk, Alexander G., Sinogeikin, S. V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 62.50.-p; 71.27.+a; 78.70.Ck; Electron spin; Energy gap; Excitation; Fine structure; Inelastic scattering; Spin transition; X-ray scattering
• ISSN: 0295-5075; 1286-4854
• DOI: 10.1209/0295-5075/108/37001

A high-pressure resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) of at the Fe K pre-edge has been carried out to study the evolution of electronic excitations through the pressure-induced spin transition. Systematic peak shifts with insignificant peak width change are observed with increasing pressure in the high-spin state. An electronic transition occurs in tandem with the high-spin to low-spin transition, observed as the emergence of multiple new low-energy peaks in the spectra. The energy gap is reduced due to these low-energy peaks, not a peak width broadening. The observed electronic excitations are associated with dd excitations, which are calculated using a full-multiplet theory. We consider changes in crystal-field splitting and covalency to explain the observed peak shifts in the high-spin state. The new peaks that emerge upon the high-to low-spin transition are compared with dd excitations for the low-spin configuration.