No Arabic abstract
Alkali metal dosing (AMD) has been widely used as a way to control doping without chemical substitution. This technique, in combination with angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), often provides an opportunity to observe unexpected phenomena. However, the amount of transferred charge and the corresponding change in the electronic structure vary significantly depending on the material. Here, we report study on the correlation between the sample work function and alkali metal induced electronic structure change for three iron-based superconductors: FeSe, Ba(Fe$_{0.94}$Co$_{0.06}$)$_{2}$As$_{2}$ and NaFeAs which share a similar Fermi surface topology. Electronic structure change upon monolayer of alkali metal dosing and the sample work function were measured by ARPES. Our results show that the degree of electronic structure change is proportional to the difference between the work function of the sample and Mullikens absolute electronegativity of the dosed alkali metal. This finding provides a possible way to estimate the AMD induced electronic structure change.
We determine the work functions of the iron arsenic compounds $A$Fe$_2$As$_2$ ($A=mathrm{Ca, Ba, Cs}$) using photoemission spectroscopy to be 2.7 eV for CaFe$_2$As$_2$, 1.8 eV for BaFe$_2$As$_2$, and 1.3 eV for CsFe$_2$As$_2$. The work functions of these 122 iron-based superconductors track those of the elementary metal $A$ but are substantially smaller. The most likely explanation of this observation is that the cleaving surface exposes only half an $A$-layer. The low work function and good photoemission cross section of BaFe$_2$As$_2$ and CsFe$_2$As$_2$ enable photoemission even from a common white LED light.
We present a theoretical study of the effect of electron-electron interactions and Sr doping on the electronic structure of infinite-layer (Nd,Sr)NiO$_2$ using the density functional+dynamical mean-field theory approach. In particular, we explore the impact of epitaxial compressive strain that experience (Nd,Sr)NiO$_2$ films on the electronic properties, magnetic correlations, and exchange couplings. Our results reveal the crucial importance of orbital-dependent correlation effects in the Ni $3d$ shell of Sr-doped NdNiO$_2$. Upon doping with Sr, it undergoes a Lifshitz transition which is accompanied by a reconstruction of magnetic correlations: For Sr $x<0.2$ (Nd,Sr)NiO$_2$ adopts the Neel $(111)$ antiferromagnetic (AFM) order, while for $x>0.2$ the $C$-type $(110)$ AFM sets in the unstrained (Nd,Sr)NiO$_2$, with a highly frustrated region at $x simeq 0.2$, all within DFT+DMFT at $T=290$ K. Our results for the Neel AFM at Sr $x=0$ suggest that AFM NdNiO$_2$ appears at the verge of a Mott-Hubbard transition, providing a plausible explanation for the experimentally observed weakly insulating behavior of NdNiO$_2$ for Sr $x<0.1$. We observe that the Lifshitz transition makes a change of the band structure character from electron- to hole-like with Sr $x$, in agreement with recent experiments. Our results for magnetic couplings demonstrate an unanticipated frustration of the Ni $3d$ magnetic moments, which suppresses magnetic order near Sr $x=0.2$. We find that the effect of frustration is maximal for Sr doping $x simeq 0.1-0.2$ that nearly corresponds to the experimentally observed doping value. We conclude that the in-plane strain adjusts a bandwidth of the Ni $x^2-y^2$ band, i.e., controls the effect of electron correlations in the Ni $x^2-y^2$ orbitals. The electronic properties of (Nd,Sr)NiO$_2$ reveal an anomalous sensitivity upon a change of the crystal structure parameters.
Low-temperature (T) heat-capacity measurements under hydrostatic pressure of up to p=2.1 GPa have been performed on single-crystalline CeCu2Si2. A broad superconducting (SC) region exists in the T-p phase diagram. In the low-pressure region antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations and in the high-pressure region valence fluctuations had previously been proposed to mediate Cooper pairing. We could identify these two distinct SC regions. We found different thermodynamic properties of the SC phase in both regions, supporting the proposal that different mechanisms might be implied in the formation of superconductivity.
The electronic structure of BaFe2As2 doped with Co, Ni, and Cu has been studied by a variety of experimental and theoretical methods, but a clear picture of the dopant 3d states has not yet emerged. Herein we provide experimental evidence of the distribution of Co, Ni, and Cu 3d states in the valence band. We conclude that the Co and Ni 3d states provide additional free carriers to the Fermi level, while the Cu 3d states are found at the bottom of the valence band in a localized 3d10 shell. These findings help shed light on why superconductivity can occur in BaFe2As2 doped with Co and Ni but not Cu.
We show that the dielectric coating of the metal surface leads to the change in the sign of the positron work function.