arXiv:1907.01419 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B
K -edge and L3 -edge RIXS study of columnar and staggered quantum dimer phases of the square lattice Heisenberg model
Meiyu He, Trinanjan Datta, Dao‐Xin Yao
Abstract
We compute the $K$- and ${L}_{3}$-edge resonant inelastic x-ray-scattering (RIXS) spectrum of the columnar and the staggered quantum dimer states accessible to the square lattice Heisenberg magnet. Utilizing a bond-operator representation mean-field theory we investigate the RIXS features of the one- and two-triplon excitation spectrum supported by the quantum dimer model in the background of condensed singlet excitation. We find that the two-triplon excitation boundary lies within an energy range of $2.7{J}_{2}\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}(1.7{J}_{2})$ to $9{J}_{2}\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}(7.5{J}_{2})$ for the columnar (staggered) phase, where ${J}_{2}$ is the interbond coupling strength. We estimated the two-triplon gap to be $2.7{J}_{2}$ $(1.7{J}_{2})$ for the columnar (staggered) dimer phase. The highest intensity of the $K$-edge RIXS spectrum is localized approximately around the $(\ensuremath{\pi}/2,\ensuremath{\pi}/2)$ point for both the columnar and the staggered phases. At the ${L}_{3}$ edge we study the one- and two-triplon signal considering experimental scattering geometry, polarization restriction, and experimental resolution effects. Our calculations find a contribution to the two-triplon RIXS signal that originates from the local hard-core dimer constraint. This leads to a finite nonzero signal at the (0,0) momentum transfer which can offer an explanation for the existing ladder RIXS experiments and also predicts a nonzero signal for the two-dimensional quantum dimer system. We find that the ${L}_{3}$-edge RIXS response of the one- and two-triplon signal could exist in antiphase rung modulation for zero and $\ensuremath{\pi}$ as found in inelastic neutron scattering. Since the disordered phase has the potential to harbor a variety of quantum paramagnetic states, our RIXS calculations provide useful signatures to identify the true nature of the ordering pattern.