Anomalous polarization dependence in vibrationally resolved resonant inelastic x-ray scattering of H2O

Abstract

It is well established that different electronic channels, in resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS), display different polarization dependences due to different orientations of their corresponding transition dipole moments in the molecular frame. However, this effect does not influence the vibrational progression in the Franck-Condon approximation. We have found that the transition dipole moments of core excitation and deexcitation experience ultrafast rotation during dissociation in the intermediate core-excited state. This rotation makes the vibrational progression in RIXS sensitive to the polarization of the x-ray photons.We study the water molecule, in which the effect is expressed in RIXS through the dissociative core-excited state where the vibrational scattering anisotropy is accompanied also by violation of parity selection rules for the vibrations.