No Arabic abstract
We employed femtosecond time- and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy to analyze the response of the electronic structure of the 122 Fe-pnictide parent compounds Ba/EuFe_2As_2 and optimally doped BaFe_{1.85}Co_{0.15}As_2 near the Gamma point to femtosecond optical excitation. We identify pronounced changes of the electron population within several 100 meV above and below the Fermi level, which we explain as combination of (i) coherent lattice vibrations, (ii) a hot electron and hole distribution, and (iii) transient modifications of the chemical potential. The response of the three different materials is very similar. In the Fourier transformation of the time-dependent photoemission intensity we identify three modes at 5.6, 3.3, and 2.6 THz. While the highest frequency mode is safely assigned to the A_{1g} mode, the other two modes require a discussion in comparison to literature. The time-dependent evolution of the hot electron distribution follows a simplified description of a transient three temperature model which considers two heat baths of lattice vibrations, which are more weakly and strongly coupled to transiently excited electron population. Still the energy transfer from electrons to the strongly coupled phonons results in a rather weak, momentum-averaged electron-phonon coupling quantified by values for lambda<omega^2> between 30 and 70 meV^2. The chemical potential is found to present a transient modulation induced by the coherent phonons. This change in the chemical potential is particularly strong in a two band system like in the 122 Fe-pnictide compounds investigated here due to the pronounced variation of the electrons density of states close to the equilibrium chemical potential.
Based on results from femtosecond time-resolved photoemission, we compare three different methods for determination of the electron-phonon coupling constant {lambda} in Eu and Ba-based 122 FeAs compounds. We find good agreement between all three methods, which reveal a small {lambda} < 0.2. This makes simple electron-phonon mediated superconductivity unlikely in these compounds.
The Fe pnictide parent compound EuFe2As2 exhibits a strongly momentum dependent carrier dynamics around the hole pocket at the center of the Brillouin zone. The very different dynamics of electrons and holes cannot be explained solely by intraband scattering and interband contributions have to be considered. In addition, three coherently excited modes at frequencies of 5.6, 3.1 and 2.4 THz are observed. An estimate of the electron-phonon coupling parameter reveals lambda < 0.5, suggesting a limited importance of e-ph coupling to superconductivity in Fe pnictides.
In order to exploit the intriguing optical properties of graphene it is essential to gain a better understanding of the light-matter interaction in the material on ultrashort timescales. Exciting the Dirac fermions with intense ultrafast laser pulses triggers a series of processes involving interactions between electrons, phonons and impurities. Here we study these interactions in epitaxial graphene supported on silicon carbide (semiconducting) and iridium (metallic) substrates using ultrafast time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (TR-ARPES) based on high harmonic generation. For the semiconducting substrate we reveal a complex hot carrier dynamics that manifests itself in an elevated electronic temperature and an increase in linewidth of the $pi$ band. By analyzing these effects we are able to disentangle electron relaxation channels in graphene. On the metal substrate this hot carrier dynamics is found to be severely perturbed by the presence of the metal, and we find that the electronic system is much harder to heat up than on the semiconductor due to screening of the laser field by the metal.
We have studied the O 2p valence-band structure of Nb-doped SrTiO3, in which a dilute concentration of electrons are doped into the d0 band insulator, by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurements. We found that ARPES spectra at the valence band maxima at the M [k = (pi/a, pi/a, 0)]and R [k = (pi/a, pi/a, pi/a)] points start from ~ 3.3 eV below the Fermi level (EF), consistent with the indirect band gap of 3.3 eV and the EF position at the bottom of the conduction band. The peak position of the ARPES spectra were, however, shifted toward higher binding energies by ~ 500 meV from the 3.3 eV threshold. Because the bands at M and R have pure O 2p character, we attribute this ~ 500 meV shift to strong coupling of the oxygen p hole with optical phonons in analogy with the peak shifts observed for d-electron photoemission spectra in various transition-metal oxides.
Electronic structure of single crystalline Ba(Zn$_{0.875}$Mn$_{0.125}$)$_{2}$As$_{2}$, parent compound of the recently founded high-temperature ferromagnetic semiconductor, was studied by high-resolution photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Through systematically photon energy and polarization dependent measurements, the energy bands along the out-of-plane and in-plane directions were experimentally determined. Except the localized states of Mn, the measured band dispersions agree very well with the first-principle calculations of undoped BaZn$_{2}$As$_{2}$. A new feature related to Mn 3d states was identified at the binding energies of about -1.6 eV besides the previously observed feature at about -3.3 eV. We suggest that the hybridization between Mn and As orbitals strongly enhanced the density of states around -1.6 eV. Although our resolution is much better compared with previous soft X-ray photoemission experiments, no clear hybridization gap between Mn 3d states and the valence bands proposed by previous model calculations was detected.