We report a resonant inelastic x-ray scattering study of the dispersion relations of charge transfer excitations in insulating La2CuO4. These data reveal two peaks, both of which show two-dimensional characteristics. The lowest energy excitation has a gap energy of ∼ 2.2 eV at the zone center, and a dispersion of ∼ 1 eV. The spectral weight of this mode becomes dramatically smaller around (π, π). The second peak shows a smaller dispersion (∼ 0.5 eV) with a zone-center energy of ∼ 3.9 eV. We argue that these are both highly dispersive exciton modes damped by the presence of the electron-hole continuum.PACS numbers: 74.25.Jb, 74.72.Dn, 78.70.Ck, Understanding strongly correlated electron systems, such as the cuprate superconductors, remains at the heart of much of current condensed matter research. As a first step toward elucidating electron correlation effects in these systems, it is important to study the behavior of elementary excitations using various spectroscopic tools. For example, angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) has become an indispensable probe for studying the excitation spectrum of a single quasiparticle [1,2], while inelastic neutron scattering has been invaluable in the investigation of low-energy collective modes (1 ∼ 100 meV), such as phonons and magnons [3]. However, to date only limited information has been available on collective excitations at an energy scale on the order of ∼ 1 eV. This is unfortunate, since in this energy range, the electron dynamics are governed directly by the various hopping integrals and by the Coulomb interaction. Thus, an investigation of the dispersion relations of such collective charge excitations would yield invaluable information for any microscopic theory of charge dynamics in the copper oxides.In this Letter, we present a detailed study of the momentum-dependence of the charge excitations in La 2 CuO 4 , utilizing resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS). In the simplest picture of this insulating cuprate, the ground state consists of one hole per copper ion (Cu 2+ ), and the low-lying electronic excitations include excitons formed via a charge-transfer (CT) process, in which charge is moved from the oxygen onto the copper [4,5,6]. Specifically, an electron-hole pair, created by exciting an electron from the valence band -the ZhangRice (ZR) band [7] -to the conduction band across the CT gap, can form a bound exciton state as a result of the Coulomb interaction. This CT exciton is expected to have a large dispersion, since it has zero spin and can move without disturbing the antiferromagnetic order of the copper oxide plane. Consistent with this, our highresolution measurements have enabled us to identify an exciton-like feature at 2.2 eV with a dispersion of 1 eV. In addition, a second peak at slightly higher energy is also observed. This has a zone-center energy of 3.9 eV and a dispersion of 0.5 eV. Finally, we also discuss a dramatic reduction in spectral weight of the CT exciton observed near the (π π) position.The RIXS technique in the hard...

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We report a resonant x-ray diffraction study of the magnetoresistant perovskite Pr0.6Ca0.4MnO3. We discuss the spectra measured above and below the semiconductor-insulator transition temperature with aid of a detailed formal analysis of the energy and polarization dependences of the structure factors and ab initio calculations of the spectra. In the low temperature insulating phase, we find that inequivalent Mn atoms order in a CE-type pattern and that the crystallographic structure of La0.5Ca0.5MnO3, (Radaelli et al., Phys. Rev. B 55, 3015 (1997)) can also describe this system in fine details. Instead, the alternative structure proposed for the so-called Zener polaron model (Daoud-Aladine et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 097205 (2002)) is ruled out by crystallographic and spectroscopic evidences. Our analysis supports a model involving orbital ordering. However, we confirm that there is no direct evidence of charge disproportionation in the Mn K-edge resonant spectra. Therefore, we consider a CE-type model in which there are two Mn sublattices, each with partial eg occupancy. One sublattice consists of Mn atoms with the 3x 2 − r 2 or 3y 2 − r 2 orbitals partially occupied in a alternating pattern, the other sublattice with the x 2 − y 2 orbital partially occupied.

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Colloidal suspensions of clay particles in aqueous salt solutions make ideal model systems for the study of interactions between plate-shaped particles, due to the ease in tuning their electrostatic repulsion with the concentration of the salt. Numerous gel and sol structures are possible, including nematic liquid crystalline order, although only qualitative identification of the latter in clay colloids has been available so far. We present synchrotron x-ray diffraction from gravity dispersed solutions of Na fluorohectorite, a synthetic swelling clay, over a large NaCl concentration range. Our use of liquid scattering techniques allows us to identify regions in which particles reorient from horizontal to vertical alignments in strata coexisting at different heights within the sample. We identify two distinct gel regions characterized by differences in orientational anisotropy and domain size. Our results provide direct evidence for nematic order, as well as unique structural information regarding particle morphology and alignment within each of the colloid phases.