We report the electronic structure of a prototypical valence fluctuation system, YbAl2, using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. The observed band dispersions and Fermi surfaces are well described in terms of band structure calculations based
on local density approximation. Strong hybridization between the conduction and 4f bands is identified on the basis of the periodic Anderson model. The evaluated small mass enhancement factor and the high Kondo temperature qualitatively agree with those obtained from thermodynamic measurements. Such findings suggest that the strong hybridization suppresses band renormalization and is responsible for the valence fluctuations in YbAl2.
We use hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HAXPES) to investigate the electronic structure of YbAl2, for which the Yb valence has not been consistently reported to date. The bulk sensitivity and the analytical simplicity provided by the Yb 3d core
-level HAXPES allow a reliable determination of the mean valence of Yb ions. For YbAl2, it is evaluated to be +2.20, which remains nearly unchanged below 300 K. The Kondo resonance peak with an extremely high Kondo temperature (above 2000 K) is clearly identified in the valence-band spectra. The results indicate that a coherent Kondo state can be robust even in a nearly divalent system.
The Kondo resonance at the Fermi level is well-established for the electronic structure of Ce (f1 electron) and Yb (f1 hole) based systems. In this work, we report complementary experimental and theoretical studies on the Kondo resonance in Pr-based
f2 system, PrTi2Al20. Using Pr 3d-4f resonant photoemission spectroscopy and single impurity Anderson model (SIAM) calculations including the full multiplets of Pr ions, we show that an f2 system can also give rise to a Kondo resonance at the Fermi level. The Kondo resonance peak is experimentally observed through a final-state-multiplet dependent resonance and is reproduced with properly tuned hybridization strength in SIAM calculations.
Optical conductivity [$sigma(omega)$] of YbS has been measured under pressure up to 20 GPa. Below 8 GPa, $sigma(omega)$ is low since YbS is an insulator with an energy gap between fully occupied 4$f$ state and unoccupied conduction ($c$) band. Above
8 GPa, however, $sigma(omega)$ increases dramatically, developing a Drude component due to heavy carriers and characteristic infrared peaks. It is shown that increasing pressure has caused an energy overlap and hybridization between the $c$ band and 4$f$ state, thus driving the initially ionic and insulating YbS into a correlated metal with heavy carriers.
Hard x-ray photoemission and optical spectroscopies have been performed on YbS and Yb metal to determine the precise $f$-electron occupation. A comparison of the photoemission spectra with the energy loss functions in bulk and surface, obtained from
optical reflectivity, enables us to distinguish between the energy loss satellite of Yb$^{2+}$ peak and Yb$^{3+}$ multiplet. The results clearly indicate a purely divalent Yb state except for the surface of YbS. We demonstrate that the present method is highly reliable in identifying the electronic structure and the mean valence in $f$-electron systems.
