Russo: Investigating the Electronic Structure of Low dimensional and Strongly Correlated Systems with Soft Resonant Inelastic X-ray scattering

Strongly correlated materials possess electronic structures cannot be described in terms of non-interacting electrons; electron correlation, lattice effects, and system size are all important contributors to change in electronic structure and material behavior. Soft x-rays are excellent probes into changes in electronic structure due to their ability to probe not only density of states features, but also excitations in material systems. In this talk, I discuss the application of soft x-ray Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) to several low dimensional and strongly correlated materials such as nanoparticle ‘blue bronze’ K0.3MoO3, 2D Ni(OH)2, and Van Der Waals Insulators MPS3 (M=Ni, Fe, Mn) as a probe of changes of electronic structure as a function of system size and chemistry, to explain the disappearance of the metallic state in nanoparticle K0.3MoO3, the lower than bulk bandgap in 2D Ni(OH)2, and discuss the insulating nature of the Van Der Waals Insulators MPS3 (M=Ni, Fe, Mn).