DECONVOLUTION OF LIFETIME BROADENING AT RARE-EARTH L(III) EDGES COMPARED TO RESONANT INELASTIC X-RAY-SCATTERING MEASUREMENTS

The lifetime broadening of some rare-earth L(III)-edge x-ray absorptio n spectra (XAS) is partially removed by deconvolving high quality data . The ligand field splitting of dipolar resonances is clearly resolved . Exposed pre-edge structure is compared to atomic multiplet calculati ons of the 2p-->4f quadrupolar excitations. Ratios are thereby determi ned for the quadrupolar/dipolar oscillator strengths. Deconvolved XAS data of Ho(NO3)(3) are compared to inelastic x-ray scattering measurem ents showing experimentally that the latter cannot reproduce a narrowe d XAS.