We consider the question of whether resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) can be used to detect many-body excitations that are coupled to the spin-chirality terms ${\mathbf{S}}_i·({\mathbf{S}}_j\times {\mathbf{S}}_k)$ in a Mott insulator. We find that while the spin-chirality terms are in general absent in the usual experimental setups of RIXS, there are prospects of realizing such terms if one considers instead the scattering near a pre-edge. We then perform detailed analyses for the square and the kagome lattices, and brief analyses for the triangular and the honeycomb lattices, in which we show that the spin-chirality terms are indeed present in all the above lattices, but that they occur at a higher order in our expansion for the kagome and the honeycomb lattices. The merit of using RIXS in addition to Raman spectroscopy to detect excitations that are coupled to the spin-chirality terms is also briefly discussed in the context of the emergent gauge boson in the $\text{U}\left(1\right)$ Dirac spin liquid.

• Received 15 June 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.84.125102