Nonresonant inelastic x-ray scattering study of cubic boron nitride -: art. no. 024102

The dynamic structure factor of cubic boron nitride has been measured using nonresonant inelastic x-ray scattering. The experimental data are compared with the results of a recently developed ab initio calculation scheme, which takes into account the interaction between the excited electron and the hole. The agreement between the experiment and theory is good over an extended momentum transfer range, which emphasizes the importance of proper inclusion of the electron-hole interaction. The results are also compared with a reflectance measurement that represents the zero-momentum-transfer limit. The complementary nature of these different experimental methods is discussed in view of the ab initio calculations.