Resonant fluorescence emission of Mn Kβ in quasicrystals

Abstract

Resonant X-ray emission spectra of Mn Kβ 1,3 (3p ⋅ 1s) were measured near the Mn K absorption edge for quasicrystalline icosahedral Al–Pd–Mn, icosahedral Al–Pd–Mn–B, icosahedral Al–Mn–Si, decagonal Al–Mn–Fe–Ge and crystalline α–Al–Mn–Si. Except for the Raman scattering energy region, the peak energy of Kβ 1,3 is independent of incident photon energy for all the samples. The shape was also unchanged. A Kβ’ subpeak, which is caused by the splitting between the density of states of the high spin and the low spin in the 3p band, appeared in all the quasicrystal samples with lower intensity than those of the Mn oxides in spite of the fact that Mn atoms in the decagonal Al–Mn–Fe–Ge and the icosahedral Al–Pd–Mn–B are in a ferromagnetic state. In the profile of the icosahedral Al–Pd–Mn, α–Al–Mn–Si and decagonal Al–Mn–Fe–Ge, a clear hump was observed at the energy between Kβ 1,3 and Kβ’. In the emission spectra of Mn Kβ 5 (3d →1s), peak positions were 1.5 eV lower for the ferromagnetic quasicrystals than those of the other quasicrystals.