American Institute of Physics, Structural Dynamics, 2(11), 2024
DOI: 10.1063/4.0000236
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We present a new setup for resonant inelastic hard x-ray scattering at the Bernina beamline of SwissFEL with energy, momentum, and temporal resolution. The compact R = 0.5 m Johann-type spectrometer can be equipped with up to three crystal analyzers and allows efficient collection of RIXS spectra. Optical pumping for time-resolved studies can be realized with a broad span of optical wavelengths. We demonstrate the performance of the setup at an overall ∼180 meV resolution in a study of ground-state and photoexcited (at 400 nm) honeycomb 5d iridate α-Li2IrO3. Steady-state RIXS spectra at the iridium L3-edge (11.214 keV) have been collected and are in very good agreement with data collected at synchrotrons. The time-resolved RIXS transients exhibit changes in the energy loss region <2 eV, whose features mostly result from the hopping nature of 5d electrons in the honeycomb lattice. These changes are ascribed to modulations of the Ir-to-Ir inter-site transition scattering efficiency, which we associate to a transient screening of the on-site Coulomb interaction.