We present an x-ray absorption study of the dependence of the V oxidation state on the thickness of LaVO$_3$ (LVO) and capping LaAlO$_3$ (LAO) layers in the multilayer structure of LVO sandwiched between LAO. We found that the change of the valence of V as a function of LAO layer thickness can be qualitatively explained by a transition between electronically reconstructed interfaces and a chemical reconstruction. The change as a function of LVO layer thickness is complicated by the presence of a considerable amount of V$^{4+}$ in the bulk of the thicker LVO layers.
Here we report about the interface reconstruction in the recently discovered superconducting artificial superlattices based on insulating CaCuO2 and SrTiO3 blocks. Hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that the valence bands alignment prevents any electronic reconstruction by direct charge transfer between the two blocks. We demonstrate that the electrostatic built-in potential is suppressed by oxygen redistribution in the alkaline earth interface planes. By using highly oxidizing growth conditions, the oxygen coordination in the reconstructed interfaces may be increased, resulting in the hole doping of the cuprate block and thus in the appearance of superconductivity.
LaAlO$_{3}$ and NdGaO$_{3}$ thin films of different thickness have been grown by pulsed laser deposition on TiO$_2$-terminated SrTiO$_{3}$ single crystals and investigated by soft X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. The surface sensitivity of the measurements has been tuned by varying photon energy $h u$ and emission angle $Theta$. In contrast to the core levels of the other elements, the Sr $3d$ line shows an unexpected splitting for higher surface sensitivity, signaling the presence of a second strontium component. From our quantitative analysis we conclude that during the growth process Sr atoms diffuse away from the substrate and segregate at the surface of the heterostructure, possibly forming strontium oxide.
Polarization dependent vanadium L edge X-ray absorption spectra of BaVS$_3$ single crystals are measured in the four phases of the compound. The difference between signals with the polarization textbf{E}$perp$textbf{c} and textbf{E}$parallel$textbf{c} (linear dichroism) changes with temperature. Besides increasing intensity of one of the maxima, a new structure appears in the pre-edge region below the metal-insulator transition. More careful examination brings to light that the changes start already with pretransitional charge density wave fluctuations. Simple symmetry analysis suggests that the effect is related to rearrangements in $E_{g}$ and $A_{1g}$ states, and is compatible with the formation of four inequivalent V sites along the V-S chain.
We demonstrate a new method of x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) that is bulk sensitive, like traditional fluorescence yield measurements, but is not affected by self-absorption or saturation effects. This measure of XAS is achieved by scanning the incident photon energy through an absorption edge and using an energy sensitive photon detector to measure the partial fluorescence yield (PFY). The x-ray emission from any element or core-hole excitation that is not resonant with the absorption edge under investigation is selected from the PFY. It is found that the inverse of this PFY spectrum, which we term inverse partial fluorescence yield (IPFY), is linearly proportional to the x-ray absorption cross-section without any corrections due to saturation or self-absorption effects. We demonstrate this technique on the Cu L and Nd M absorption edges of the high-Tc cuprate LNSCO by measuring the O K PFY and comparing the total electron yield, total fluorescence yield and IPFY spectra.
The electronic structure of LiNiO$_2$, a promising Li-ion battery cathode material, has remained a challenge to understand due to its highly covalent yet correlated nature. Here we elucidate the electronic structure in LiNiO$_2$ and the related compound NaNiO$_2$ using x-ray absorption spectra (XAS) and quantum many-body calculations. Notably, we use inverse partial fluorescence yield to correctly measure the Ni $L$-edge XAS, which is inaccurate using conventional methods. We show that the XAS are indicative of a strong Jahn-Teller effect in NaNiO$_2$ and a bond disproportionated state in LiNiO$_2$, supporting a theory of a high-entropy, glassy disproportionated state that stabilizes charging cycles in LiNiO$_2$.