SmO thin film is a new Kondo system showing a resistivity upturn around 10 K and was theoretically proposed to have a topologically nontrivial band structure. We have performed hard x-ray and soft x-ray photoemission spectroscopy to elucidate the electronic structure of SmO. From the Sm 3$d$ core-level spectra, we have estimated the valence of Sm to be $sim$2.96, proving that the Sm has a mixed valence. The valence-band photoemission spectra exhibit a clear Fermi edge originating from the Sm 5$d$-derived band. The present finding is consistent with the theory suggesting a possible topological state in SmO and show that rare-earth monoxides or their heterostructures can be a new playground for the interplay of strong electron correlation and spin-orbit coupling.
The strain effect from a substrate is an important experimental route to control electronic and magnetic properties in transition-metal oxide (TMO) thin films. Using hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy, we investigate the strain dependence of the valence states in LaNiO$_{3}$ thin films, strongly correlated perovskite TMO, grown on four substrates: LaAlO$_{3}$, (LaAlO$_{3}$)$_{0.3}$(SrAl$_{0.5}$Ta$_{0.5}$O$_{3}$)$_{0.7}$, SrTiO$_{3}$, and DyScO$_{3}$. A Madelung potential analysis of core-level spectra suggests that the point-charge description is valid for the La ions while it breaks down for Ni and O ions due to a strong covalent bonding between the two. A clear x-ray photon-energy dependence of the valence spectra is analyzed by the density functional theory, which points to a presence of the La 5$p$ state near the Fermi level.
We studied the electronic band structure of pulsed laser deposition (PLD) grown (111)-oriented SrRuO$_3$ (SRO) thin films using textit{in situ} angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) technique. We observed previously unreported, light bands with a renormalized quasiparticle effective mass of about 0.8$m_{e}$. The electron-phonon coupling underlying this mass renormalization yields a characteristic kink in the band dispersion. The self-energy analysis using the Einstein model suggests five optical phonon modes covering an energy range 44 to 90 meV contribute to the coupling. Besides, we show that the quasiparticle spectral intensity at the Fermi level is considerably suppressed, and two prominent peaks appear in the valance band spectrum at binding energies of 0.8 eV and 1.4 eV, respectively. We discuss the possible implications of these observations. Overall, our work demonstrates that high-quality thin films of oxides with large spin-orbit coupling can be grown along the polar (111) orientation by the PLD technique, enabling textit{in situ} electronic band structure study. This could allow for characterizing the thickness-dependent evolution of band structure of (111) heterostructures$-$a prerequisite for exploring possible topological quantum states in the bilayer limit.
Bulk sensitive hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data of the Ce 3$p$ core level of CeRu$_4$Sn$_6$ are presented. Using a combination of full multiplet and configuration iteration model we were able to obtain an accurate lineshape analysis of the data, thereby taking into account correlations for the strong plasmon intensities. We conclude that CeRu$_4$Sn$_6$ is a moderately mixed valence compound with a weight of 8% for the Ce $f^0$ configuration in the ground state.
GdNi is a ferrimagnetic material with a Curie temperature Tc = 69 K which exhibits a large magnetocaloric effect, making it useful for magnetic refrigerator applications. We investigate the electronic structure of GdNi by carrying out x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at T = 25 K in the ferrimagnetic phase. We analyze the Gd M$_{4,5}$-edge ($3d$ - $4f$) and Ni L$_{2,3}$-edge ($2p$ - $3d$) spectra using atomic multiplet and cluster model calculations, respectively. The atomic multiplet calculation for Gd M$_{4,5}$-edge XAS indicates that Gd is trivalent in GdNi, consistent with localized $4f$ states. On the other hand, a model cluster calculation for Ni L$_{2,3}$-edge XAS shows that Ni is effectively divalent in GdNi and strongly hybridized with nearest neighbour Gd states, resulting in a $d$-electron count of 8.57. The Gd M$_{4,5}$-edge XMCD spectrum is consistent with a ground state configuration of S = 7/2 and L=0. The Ni L$_{2,3}$-edge XMCD results indicate that the antiferromagnetically aligned Ni moments exhibit a small but finite magnetic moment ( $m_{tot}$ $sim$ 0.12 $mu_B$ ) with the ratio $m_{o}/m_{s}$ $sim$ 0.11. Valence band hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy shows Ni $3d$ features at the Fermi level, confirming a partially filled $3d$ band, while the Gd $4f$ states are at high binding energies away from the Fermi level. The results indicate that the Ni $3d$ band is not fully occupied and contradicts the charge-transfer model for rare-earth based alloys. The obtained electronic parameters indicate that GdNi is a strongly correlated charge transfer metal with the Ni on-site Coulomb energy being much larger than the effective charge-transfer energy between the Ni $3d$ and Gd $4f$ states.
Bulk-sensitive hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HAXPES) reveals for as-grown epitaxial films of half-metallic ferromagnetic CrO2(100) a pronounced screening feature in the Cr 2p3/2 core level and an asymmetry in the O 1s core level. This gives evidence of a finite, metal-type Fermi edge, which is surprisingly not observed in HAXPES. A spectral weight shift in HAXPES away from the Fermi energy is attributed to single-ion recoil effects due to high energy photoelectrons. In conjunction with inverse PES the intrinsic correlated Mott-Hubbard-type electronic structure is unravelled, yielding an averaged Coulomb correlation energy Uav ~ 3.2 eV.
Shoya Sakamoto
,Kenichi Kaminaga
,Daichi Oka
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(2020)
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"Hard and soft x-ray photoemission spectroscopy study of the new Kondo system SmO thin film"
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Shoya Sakamoto
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