Theoretical study of resonant x-ray emission spectroscopy of Mn films on Ag

We report a theoretical study on resonant x-ray emission spectra (RXES) in the whole energy region of the Mn L-2,L-3 white lines for three prototypical Mn/Ag(001) systems: (i) a Mn impurity in Ag, (ii) an adsorbed Mn monolayer on Ag, and (iii) a thick Mn film. The calculated RXES spectra depend strongly on the excitation energy. At L-3 excitation, the spectra of all three systems are dominated by the elastic peak. For excitation energies around L-2, and between L-3 and L-2, however, most of the spectral weight comes from inelastic x-ray scattering. The line shape of these inelastic "satellite" structures changes considerably between the three considered Mn/Ag systems, a fact that may be attributed to changes in the bonding nature of the Mn d orbitals. The system dependence of the RXES spectrum is thus found to be much stronger than that of the corresponding absorption spectrum. Our results suggest that RXES in the Mn L-2,L-3 region may be used as a sensitive probe of the local environment of Mn atoms.