Electronic structure investigation of CeB6 by means of soft X-ray scattering

TL;DR

This study uses soft X-ray scattering to explore the electronic structure and charge-transfer excitations in the heavy fermion compound CeB6, revealing hybridization effects and inelastic scattering features.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the hybridization and charge-transfer excitations in CeB6 using resonant inelastic soft X-ray scattering and theoretical modeling.

Findings

Observation of energy-loss structures below elastic peak at Ce 3d and 4d edges

Identification of charge-transfer excitations related to 4f orbitals

Consistent theoretical spectra from Anderson model calculations

Abstract

The electronic structure of the heavy fermion compound CeB6 is probed by resonant inelastic soft X-ray scattering using photon energies across the Ce 3d and 4d absorption edges. The hybridization between the localized 4f orbitals and the delocalized valence-band states is studied by identifying the different spectral contributions from inelastic Raman scattering and normal fluorescence. Pronounced energy-loss structures are observed below the elastic peak at both the 3d and 4d thresholds. The origin and character of the inelastic scattering structures are discussed in terms of charge-transfer excitations in connection to the dipole allowed transitions with 4f character. Calculations within the single impurity Anderson model with full multiplet effects are found to yield consistent spectral functions to the experimental data.