E. Rotenberg

Novel Jeff=1/2 Mott state induced by relativistic spin-orbit coupling in Sr2IrO4.

We investigated the electronic structure of 5d transition-metal oxide Sr2IrO4 using angle-resolved photoemission, optical conductivity, x-ray absorption measurements, and first-principles band calculations. The system was found to be well described by novel effective total angular momentum Jeff states, in which the relativistic spin-orbit coupling is fully taken into account under a large crystal field. Despite delocalized Ir 5d states, the Jeff states form such narrow bands that even a small correlation energy leads to the Jeff=1/2 Mott ground state with unique electronic and magnetic behaviors, suggesting a new class of Jeff quantum spin driven correlated-electron phenomena.

Fermi Surface and Quasiparticle Dynamics of Na0:7CoO2 Investigated by Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy

We present the first angle-resolved photoemission study of Na0.7CoO2, the host material of the superconducting NaxCoO2.nH(2)O series. Our results show a hole-type Fermi surface, a strongly renormalized quasiparticle band, a small Fermi velocity, and a large Hubbard U. The quasiparticle band crosses the Fermi level from M toward Gamma suggesting a negative sign of effective single-particle hopping t(eff) (about 10 meV) which is on the order of magnetic exchange coupling J in this system. Quasiparticles are well defined only in the T-linear resistivity (non-Fermi-liquid) regime. Unusually small single-particle hopping and unconventional quasiparticle dynamics may have implications for understanding the phase of matter realized in this new class of a strongly interacting quantum system.

Fermi arcs in a doped pseudospin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet

Identifying a cuprate look-alike Superconductivity in cuprate compounds remains poorly understood. Recreating its features in an unrelated material may provide insight. Kim et al. used a spectroscopic technique to study the electronic states of the material Sr2IrO4 at relatively high temperatures. They observed phenomenology similar to that of cuprates as they varied the surface carrier concentration. The study highlights the essential properties a material needs in order to exhibit cuprate-like features in the normal (nonsuperconducting) state. Science, this issue p. 187 Some of the phenomenology of cuprate superconductors is recreated in strontium iridate surface-doped with potassium. High-temperature superconductivity in cuprates arises from an electronic state that remains poorly understood. We report the observation of a related electronic state in a noncuprate material, strontium iridate (Sr2IrO4), in which the distinct cuprate fermiology is largely reproduced. Upon surface electron doping through in situ deposition of alkali-metal atoms, angle-resolved photoemission spectra of Sr2IrO4 display disconnected segments of zero-energy states, known as Fermi arcs, and a gap as large as 80 millielectron volts. Its evolution toward a normal metal phase with a closed Fermi surface as a function of doping and temperature parallels that in the cuprates. Our result suggests that Sr2IrO4 is a useful model system for comparison to the cuprates.

Quantum-well states in copper thin films

A standard exercise in elementary quantum mechanics is to describe the properties of an electron confined in a potential well. The solutions of Schrödingers equation are electron standing waves—or ‘quantum-well’ states—characterized by the quantum number n, the number of half-wavelengths that span the well. Quantum-well states can be experimentally realized in a thin film, which confines the motion of the electrons in the direction normal to the film: for layered semiconductor quantum wells, the aforementioned quantization condition provides (with the inclusion of boundary phases) a good description of the quantum-well states. The presence of such states in layered metallic nanostructures isbelieved to underlie many intriguing phenomena, such as the oscillatory magnetic coupling of two ferromagnetic layers across anon-magnetic layer, and giant magnetoresistance. But our understanding of the properties of the quantum-well states in metallic structures is still limited. Here we report photoemission experiments that reveal the spatial variation of the quantum-well wavefunction within a thin copper film. Our results confirm an earlier proposal that the amplitude of electron waves confined in a metallic thin film is modulated by an envelope function (of longer wavelength), which plays a key role in determining the energetics of the quantum-well states.

Giant Ambipolar Rashba Effect in the Semiconductor BiTeI

We observe a giant spin-orbit splitting in the bulk and surface states of the noncentrosymmetric semiconductor BiTeI. We show that the Fermi level can be placed in the valence or in the conduction band by controlling the surface termination. In both cases, it intersects spin-polarized bands, in the corresponding surface depletion and accumulation layers. The momentum splitting of these bands is not affected by adsorbate-induced changes in the surface potential. These findings demonstrate that two properties crucial for enabling semiconductor-based spin electronics-a large, robust spin splitting and ambipolar conduction-are present in this material.

Universal High Energy Anomaly in the Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectra of High Temperature Superconductors: Possible Evidence of Spinon and Holon Branches

A universal high energy anomaly in the single particle spectral function is reported in three different families of high temperature superconductors by using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. As we follow the dispersing peak of the spectral function from the Fermi energy to the valence band complex, we find dispersion anomalies marked by two distinctive high energy scales, E1 approximately 0.38 eV and E2 approximately 0.8 eV. E1 marks the energy above which the dispersion splits into two branches. One is a continuation of the near parabolic dispersion, albeit with reduced spectral weight, and reaches the bottom of the band at the Gamma point at approximately 0.5 eV. The other is given by a peak in the momentum space, nearly independent of energy between E1 and E2. Above E2, a bandlike dispersion reemerges. We conjecture that these two energies mark the disintegration of the low-energy quasiparticles into a spinon and holon branch in the high Tc cuprates.

The structure of oxygen on Cu(100) at low and high coverages

The local adsorption structure of oxygen on Cu(1 0 0) has been studied using O 1s scanned-energy mode photoelectron diffraction. A detailed quantitative determination of the structure of the 0.5 ML (√2×2√2)R45°-O ordered phase confirms the missing-row character of this reconstruction and agrees well with earlier structural determinations of this phase by other methods, the adsorbed O atoms lying only approximately 0.1 A above the outermost Cu layer. At much lower coverages, the results indicate that the O atoms adopt unreconstructed hollow sites at a significantly larger O–Cu layer spacing, but with some form of local disorder. The best fit to these data is achieved with a two-site model involving O atoms at Cu–O layer spacings of 0.41 and 0.70 A in hollow sites; these two sites (also implied by an earlier electron-energy-loss study) are proposed to be associated with edge and centre positions in very small c(2×2) domains as seen in a recent scanning tunnelling microscopy investigation.

Elemental topological insulator with tunable Fermi level: strained α-Sn on InSb(001).

We report on the epitaxial fabrication and electronic properties of a topological phase in strained α-Sn on InSb. The topological surface state forms in the presence of an unusual band order not based on direct spin-orbit coupling, as shown in density functional and GW slab-layer calculations. Angle-resolved photoemission including spin detection probes experimentally how the topological spin-polarized state emerges from the second bulk valence band. Moreover, we demonstrate the precise control of the Fermi level by dopants.

Differential Photoelectron Holography: A New Approach for Three-Dimensional Atomic Imaging

We propose differential holography as a method to overcome the long-standing forward-scattering problem in photoelectron holography and related techniques for the three-dimensional imaging of atoms. Atomic images reconstructed from experimental and theoretical Cu 3p holograms from Cu(001) demonstrate that this method suppresses strong forward-scattering effects so as to yield more accurate three-dimensional images of side- and backscattering atoms.

5f Resonant photoemission from plutonium

Experimental resonant photoemission (ResPes) results for α-Pu and δ-Pu bulk samples are presented and compared to the results of an atomic model calculation. Both Pu samples exhibit limited agreement with the atomic model calculations. As expected, α-Pu appears to have more 5f valence band delocalization than δ-Pu. Evidence of an enhanced sensitivity to surface corruption, by using synchrotron radiation as the excitation, is presented.