Soft-x-ray fluorescence studies of solids

Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) has been observed in many systems above and below their core threshold. Below threshold, inelastic-loss features are observed, which disperse linearly with excitation energy, but as the excitation increases above the core binding energy, in general nonlinear dispersive effects are observed. These two effects are described by the same physics of coherent fluorescence. Very good agreement between experiment and simulated RIXS is achieved using a simple one-electron framework, however significant questions have arisen concerning core-hole effects and their influence on RIXS. In this work, the role core-excitons play in the RIXS process is examined in finer detail in graphite, by using narrowband excitation, and through comparison between experiment and simulated spectra which includes the core-hole explicitly in the modeling. Based on these findings, we conclude that core-hole effects play a minor but detectable role in the RIXS observed from graphite.