Resonant inelastic soft x-ray scattering and electronic structure of LiBC

The electronic structure of LiBC has been studied using soft x-ray fluorescence measurements. Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) spectra were measured with the excitation energy tuned to the boron and carbon K-edges. RIXS spectra show dispersive features, which were assigned to the calculated energy bands using the site-selective quantitative band mapping method based on the concept of k-momentum conservation. It is concluded that while the electronic structure calculations are in general agreement with experimental spectra, carbon and boron K-emission bands show some deviation due to an incomplete hybridization of the C 2p–B 2p states.