No Arabic abstract
The electronic structure of ThRu2Si2 was studied by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES) with incident photon energies of hn=655-745 eV. Detailed band structure and the three-dimensional shapes of Fermi surfaces were derived experimentally, and their characteristic features were mostly explained by means of band structure calculations based on the density functional theory. Comparison of the experimental ARPES spectra of ThRu2Si2 with those of URu2Si2 shows that they have considerably different spectral profiles particularly in the energy range of 1 eV from the Fermi level, suggesting that U 5f states are substantially hybridized in these bands. The relationship between the ARPES spectra of URu2Si2 and ThRu2Si2 is very different from the one between the ARPES spectra of CeRu2Si2 and LaRu2Si2, where the intrinsic difference in their spectra is limited only in the very vicinity of the Fermi energy. The present result suggests that the U 5f electrons in URu2Si2 have strong hybridization with ligand states and have an essentially itinerant character.
The electronic structure of the antiferromagnet uranium nitride (UN) has been studied by angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy using soft X-rays (hn=420-520 eV). Strongly dispersive bands with large contributions from the U 5f states were observed in ARPES spectra, and form Fermi surfaces. The band structure as well as the Fermi surfaces in the paramagnetic phase are well explained by the band-structure calculation treating all the U 5f electrons as being itinerant, suggesting that itinerant description of the U 5f states is appropriate for this compound. On the other hand, changes in the spectral function due to the antiferromagnetic transition were very small. The shapes of the Fermi surfaces in a paramagnetic phase are highly three-dimensional, and the nesting of Fermi surfaces is unlikely as the origin of the magnetic ordering.
The electronic structure of the unconventional superconductor UTe$_2$ was studied by resonant photoelectron spectroscopy (RPES) and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES) with soft X-ray synchrotron radiation. The partial $mathrm{U}~5f$ density of states of UTe$_2$ were imaged by the $mathrm{U}~4d$--$5f$ RPES and it was found that the $mathrm{U}~5f$ state has an itinerant character, but there exists an incoherent peak due to the strong electron correlation effects. Furthermore, an anomalous admixture of the $mathrm{U}~5f$ states into the $mathrm{Te}~5p$ bands was observed at a higher binding energy, which cannot be explained by band structure calculations. On the other hand, the band structure of UTe$_2$ was obtained by ARPES and its overall band structure were mostly explained by band structure calculations. These results suggest that the $mathrm{U}~5f$ states of UTe$_2$ have itinerant but strongly-correlated nature with enhanced hybridization with the $mathrm{Te}~5p$ states.
The electronic structures of the ferromagnetic superconductors $mathrm{UGe}_2$ and $mathrm{UCoGe}$ in the paramagnetic phase were studied by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy using soft X-rays ($h u =400-500$). The quasi-particle bands with large contributions from $mathrm{U}~5f$ states were observed in the vicinity of $E_mathrm{F}$, suggesting that the $mathrm{U}~5f$ electrons of these compounds have an itinerant character. Their overall band structures were explained by the band-structure calculations treating all the $mathrm{U}~5f$ electrons as being itinerant. Meanwhile, the states in the vicinity of $E_mathrm{F}$ show considerable deviations from the results of band-structure calculations, suggesting that the shapes of Fermi surface of these compounds are qualitatively different from the calculations, possibly caused by electron correlation effect in the complicated band structures of the low-symmetry crystals. Strong hybridization between $mathrm{U}~5f$ and $mathrm{Co}~3d$ states in $mathrm{UCoGe}$ were found by the $mathrm{Co}~2p-3d$ resonant photoemission experiment, suggesting that $mathrm{Co}~3d$ states have finite contributions to the magnetic, transport, and superconducting properties.
We use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to study heavy fermion superconductor Ce2RhIn8. The Fermi surface is rather complicated and consists of several hole and electron pock- ets. We do not observe kz dispersion of Fermi sheets, which is consistent with 2D character of the electronic structure. Comparison of the ARPES data and band structure calculations points to a localized picture of f electrons. Our findings pave the way for understanding the transport and thermodynamical properties of this material.
The localized-to-itinerant transition of f electrons lies at the heart of heavy-fermion physics, but has only been directly observed in single-layer Ce-based materials. Here, we report a comprehensive study on the electronic structure and nature of the Ce 4f electrons in the heavy-fermion superconductor Ce2PdIn8, a typical n=2 CenMmIn3n+2m compound, using high-resolution and 4d-4f resonance photoemission spectroscopies. The electronic structure of this material has been studied over a wide temperature range, and hybridization between f and conduction electrons can be clearly observed to form a Kondo resonance near the Fermi level at low temperatures. The characteristic temperature of the localized-to-itinerant transition is around 120K, which is much higher than its coherence temperature Tcoh~30K.