High-energy magnetic excitations in overdoped La₂-_xSr_xCuO₄ studied by neutron and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering

We have performed neutron inelastic scattering and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) at the Cu-L₃ edge to study high-energy magnetic excitations at energy transfers of more than 100 meV for overdoped La₂-_xSr_xCuO₄ with x=0.25 (T_c=15 K) and x=0.30 (nonsuperconducting) using identical single-crystal samples for the two techniques. From constant-energy slices of neutron-scattering cross sections, we have identified magnetic excitations up to ∼250 meV for x=0.25. Although the width in the momentum direction is large, the peak positions along the (π,π) direction agree with the dispersion relation of the spin wave in the nondoped La₂CuO₄ (LCO), which is consistent with the previous RIXS results of cuprate superconductors. Using RIXS at the Cu-L₃ edge, we have measured the dispersion relations of the so-called paramagnon mode along both (π,π) and (π,0) directions. Although in both directions the neutron and RIXS data connect with each other and the paramagnon along (π,0) agrees well with the LCO spin-wave dispersion, the paramagnon in the (π,π) direction probed by RIXS appears to be less dispersive and the excitation energy is lower than the spin wave of LCO near (π/2,π/2). Thus, our results indicate consistency between neutron inelastic scattering and RIXS, and elucidate the entire magnetic excitation in the (π,π) direction by the complementary use of two probes. The polarization dependence of the RIXS profiles indicates that appreciable charge excitations exist in the same energy range of magnetic excitations, reflecting the itinerant character of the overdoped sample. A possible anisotropy in the charge excitation intensity might explain the apparent differences in the paramagnon dispersion in the (π,π) direction as detected by the x-ray scattering.