Transition metal compounds are a class of materials with rich physics, having many applications. For most of these materials the traditional methods for theoretical description fail. The interplay between charge, orbital, spin and lattice degrees of freedom must be considered. With this in mind, a technique that can give insight into the importance of all of these degrees of freedom is necessary. Here we will briefly discuss X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) as a tool for the study of transition metal compounds, both from an experimental and theoretical perspective. When performing XAS on transition metal compounds, the observed multiplet structures provide detailed information regarding the local electronic structure of the ground state and lower excited states of the system, which is fundamental in the study of new compounds that display exotic physical properties.
Organized by: Paulo Brás, Paulo Silva, Jaime Silva