Excited core-level dependence of entanglement between a photoelectron and an emitted X-ray photon in X-ray inner-shell excitation

TL;DR

This study theoretically explores how quantum entanglement between a photoelectron's spin and an emitted X-ray photon's polarization varies with different core-level excitations in transition metal and rare-earth compounds, revealing two distinct entanglement mechanisms.

Contribution

It identifies two different mechanisms for entanglement generation in X-ray inner-shell excitation, depending on the core-level and electron interactions involved.

Findings

Entanglement depends on the core-level and electron interactions.

Two mechanisms for entanglement generation are identified.

Entanglement is suppressed in certain exchange interaction cases.

Abstract

We theoretically investigated how the quantum entanglement between the spin of the photoelectron and the polarization of the emitted X-ray photon depends on the excited core-level, using the 3$d\rightarrow\ $2$p$ and 3$d\rightarrow\ $3$p$ SPR-XEPECS (spin- and polarization-resolved XEPECS) processes for $\rm Ti_{2}O_{3}$-type system, and the 4$f\rightarrow\ $4$d$ SPR-XEPECS process for $\rm CeF_{3}$-type system. In the calculation for $\rm Ti_{2}O_{3}$-type system, we used $\rm TiO_{6}$ cluster model with the full-multiplet structure of the Ti ion and the charge-transfer effect between Ti 3$d$ and ligand O 2$p$ orbitals. For $\rm CeF_{3}$-type system, we used ionic model with the full-multiplet structure of the Ce ion. We found two distinct mechanisms for entanglement generation in the 3$d\rightarrow\ $2$p$ and 4$f\rightarrow\ $4$d$ cases. The first is generated by the spin-orbit interaction of the 2$p$ core electron, whereas the second is generated by the spin-orbit interaction of the 4$f$ valence electron and strong exchange interaction between the 4$f$ and 4$d$ electrons. However, in the 3$d\rightarrow\ $3$p$ case with the strong 3$d-$3$p$ exchange interaction, we found that the entanglement is not generated due to the crystal field effect. These results reveal the existence of two distinct mechanisms for entanglement generation in X-ray inner-shell excitation processes.