Interference of nonresonant with non-resonant inelastic x-ray scattering in the sub-keV region
Y.-P. Sun, Q. Miao, A. Pietzsch, F. Hennies, T. Schmitt, V. N. Strocov, J. Andersson, B. Kennedy, J. Schlappa, A. Föhlisch, F. Gel’mukhanov, and J.-E. Rubensson
Accepted
A detailed study of inelastic X-ray scattering from the ground state to the 3Sg(3sg-13sg1) state of the O 2 molecule is presented. The observed angular anisotropy shows that the vibrational excitations within this final state are strongly dependent on the polarisation of the incident radiation. The analysis demonstrates that this is a manifestation of interference between resonant and direct non-resonant inelastic X-ray scattering. This interference provides a new tool to monitor nuclear dynamics by relative rotation of the polarisation vectors of the incident and scattered photons.