Excited core-level dependence of entanglement between a photoelectron and an emitted X-ray photon in X-ray inner-shell excitation

Abstract

We theoretically investigated how the quantum entanglement between the spin of the photoelectron and the polarization of the emitted X-ray photon depends on the excited core-level, using the 3$d\rightarrow\ $2$p$ and 3$d\rightarrow\ $3$p$ SPR-XEPECS (spin- and polarization-resolved XEPECS) processes for $\rm Ti_{2}O_{3}$-type system, and the 4$f\rightarrow\ $4$d$ SPR-XEPECS process for $\rm CeF_{3}$-type system. In the calculation for $\rm Ti_{2}O_{3}$-type system, we used $\rm TiO_{6}$ cluster model with the full-multiplet structure of the Ti ion and the charge-transfer effect between Ti 3$d$ and ligand O 2$p$ orbitals. For $\rm CeF_{3}$-type system, we used ionic model with the full-multiplet structure of the Ce ion. We found two distinct mechanisms for entanglement generation in the 3$d\rightarrow\ $2$p$ and 4$f\rightarrow\ $4$d$ cases. The first is generated by the spin-orbit interaction of the 2$p$ core electron, whereas the second is generated by the spin-orbit interaction of the 4$f$ valence electron and strong exchange interaction between the 4$f$ and 4$d$ electrons. However, in the 3$d\rightarrow\ $3$p$ case with the strong 3$d-$3$p$ exchange interaction, we found that the entanglement is not generated due to the crystal field effect. These results reveal the existence of two distinct mechanisms for entanglement generation in X-ray inner-shell excitation processes.