A RIXS study of the electronic and magnetic excitations in FePS3

In 2D antiferromagnetic MPS3 compounds – M is a 3d transition metal – the correlation between spin and orbital excitations often leads to strong coupling between the electronic transitions and magnetic order. This quantum behaviour looks particularly appealing in view of the development of opto-spintronic devices. Our preliminary Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS) measurements on FePS3 performed at the ID32 beamline at the ESRF show indications of a possible coupling between low energy magnons and electronic excitations in relation to the octahedral and trigonal crystal field components within the FeS6 units in FePS3. In this RIXS experiment we propose to investigate the exact nature of the observed intra-band (dd) transitions and confirm their coupling to the magnetic excitations.