68 research outputs found
Lifetime of d-holes at Cu surfaces: Theory and experiment
We have investigated the hole dynamics at copper surfaces by high-resolution
angle-resolved photoemission experiments and many-body quasiparticle GW
calculations. Large deviations from a free-electron-like picture are observed
both in the magnitude and the energy dependence of the lifetimes, with a clear
indication that holes exhibit longer lifetimes than electrons with the same
excitation energy. Our calculations show that the small overlap of d- and
sp-states below the Fermi level is responsible for the observed enhancement.
Although there is qualitative good agreement of our theoretical predictions and
the measured lifetimes, there still exist some discrepancies pointing to the
need of a better description of the actual band structure of the solid.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Hole dynamics in noble metals
We present a detailed analysis of hole dynamics in noble metals (Cu and Au),
by means of first-principles many-body calculations. While holes in a
free-electron gas are known to live shorter than electrons with the same
excitation energy, our results indicate that d-holes in noble metals exhibit
longer inelastic lifetimes than excited sp-electrons, in agreement with
experiment. The density of states available for d-hole decay is larger than
that for the decay of excited electrons; however, the small overlap between d-
and sp-states below the Fermi level increases the d-hole lifetime. The impact
of d-hole dynamics on electron-hole correlation effects, which are of relevance
in the analysis of time-resolved two-photon photoemission experiments, is also
addressed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Dynamics of Excited Electrons in Copper: Role of Auger Electrons
Within a theoretical model based on the Boltzmann equation, we analyze in
detail the structure of the unusual peak recently observed in the relaxation
time in Cu. In particular, we discuss the role of Auger electrons in the
electron dynamics and its dependence on the d-hole lifetime, the optical
transition matrix elements and the laser pulse duration. We find that the Auger
contribution to the distribution is very sensitive to both the d-hole lifetime
tau_h and the laser pulse duration tau_l and can be expressed as a monotonic
function of tau_l/tau_h. We have found that for a given tau_h, the Auger
contribution is significantly smaller for a short pulse duration than for a
longer one. We show that the relaxation time at the peak depends linearly on
the d-hole lifetime, but interestingly not on the amount of Auger electrons
generated. We provide a simple expression for the relaxation time of excited
electrons which shows that its shape can be understood by a phase space
argument and its amplitude is governed by the d-hole lifetime. We also find
that the height of the peak depends on both the ratio of the optical transition
matrix elements R=|M_{d \to sp}|^2/|M_{sp \to sp}|^2 and the laser pulse
duration. Assuming a reasonable value for the ratio, namely R = 2, and a d-hole
lifetime of tau_h=35 fs, we obtain for the calculated height of the peak Delta
tau_{th}=14 fs, in fair agreement with Delta tau_{exp} \approx 17 fs measured
for polycrystalline Cu.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Photoemission and x-ray absorption study of MgC_(1-x)Ni_3
We investigated electronic structure of MgC_(1-x)Ni_3 with photoemission and
x-ray absorption spectroscopy. Both results show that overall band structure is
in reasonable agreement with band structure calculations including the
existence of von Hove singularity (vHs)near E_F. However, we find that the
sharp vHs peak theoretically predicted near the E_F is substantially
suppressed. As for the Ni core level and absorption spectrum, there exist the
satellites of Ni 2p which have a little larger energy separation and reduced
intensity compared to the case of Ni-metal. These facts indicate that
correlation effects among Ni 3d electrons may be important to understand
various physical properties.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
Atomic-scale images of charge ordering in a mixed-valence manganite
Transition-metal perovskite oxides exhibit a wide range of extraordinary but
imperfectly understood phenomena. Charge, spin, orbital, and lattice degrees of
freedom all undergo order-disorder transitions in regimes not far from where
the best-known of these phenomena, namely high-temperature superconductivity of
the copper oxides, and the 'colossal' magnetoresistance of the manganese
oxides, occur. Mostly diffraction techniques, sensitive either to the spin or
the ionic core, have been used to measure the order. Unfortunately, because
they are only weakly sensitive to valence electrons and yield superposition of
signals from distinct mesoscopic phases, they cannot directly image mesoscopic
phase coexistence and charge ordering, two key features of the manganites. Here
we describe the first experiment to image charge ordering and phase separation
in real space with atomic-scale resolution in a transition metal oxide. Our
scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) data show that charge order is correlated
with structural order, as well as with whether the material is locally metallic
or insulating, thus giving an atomic-scale basis for descriptions of the
manganites as mixtures of electronically and structurally distinct phases.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 19 reference
Fermi Surface, Surface States, and Surface Reconstruction in Sr2RuO4
The electronic structure of Sr2RuO4 is investigated by high angular
resolution ARPES at several incident photon energies. We address the
controversial issues of the Fermi surface (FS) topology and of the van Hove
singularity at the M point, showing that a surface state and the replica of the
primary FS due to (sqrt2 x sqrt2) surface reconstruction are responsible for
previous conflicting interpretations. The FS thus determined by ARPES is
consistent with the de Haas-van Alphen results, and it provides additional
information on the detailed shape of the alpha, beta and gamma sheets.Comment: Final version for Physical Review Letters. Revtex, 4 pages, 4
postscript pictures embedded in the tex
Superconductivity near the vibrational mode instability in MgCNi3
To understand the role of electron-phonon interaction in superconducting
MgCNi we have performed density functional based linear response
calculations of its lattice dynamical properties. A large coupling constant = 1.51 is predicted and contributing phonons are identified as
displacements of Ni atoms towards octahedral interstitials of the perovskite
lattice. Instabilities found for some vibrational modes emphasize the role of
anharmonic effects in resolving experimental controversies.Comment: 4 pages, 4 eps figures, replaces the older versio
Image resonance in the many-body density of states at a metal surface
The electronic properties of a semi-infinite metal surface without a bulk gap are studied by a formalism that is able to account for the continuous spectrum of the system. The density of states at the surface is calculated within the GW approximation of many-body perturbation theory. We demonstrate the presence of an unoccupied surface resonance peaked at the position of the first image state. The resonance encompasses the whole Rydberg series of image states and cannot be resolved into individual peaks. Its origin is the shift in spectral weight when many-body correlation effects are taken into account
Dynamics of Excited Electrons in Copper and Ferromagnetic Transition Metals: Theory and Experiment
Both theoretical and experimental results for the dynamics of photoexcited
electrons at surfaces of Cu and the ferromagnetic transition metals Fe, Co, and
Ni are presented. A model for the dynamics of excited electrons is developed,
which is based on the Boltzmann equation and includes effects of
photoexcitation, electron-electron scattering, secondary electrons (cascade and
Auger electrons), and transport of excited carriers out of the detection
region. From this we determine the time-resolved two-photon photoemission
(TR-2PPE). Thus a direct comparison of calculated relaxation times with
experimental results by means of TR-2PPE becomes possible. The comparison
indicates that the magnitudes of the spin-averaged relaxation time \tau and of
the ratio \tau_\uparrow/\tau_\downarrow of majority and minority relaxation
times for the different ferromagnetic transition metals result not only from
density-of-states effects, but also from different Coulomb matrix elements M.
Taking M_Fe > M_Cu > M_Ni = M_Co we get reasonable agreement with experiments.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figures, added a figure and an appendix, updated
reference
Surface electronic structure of Sr2RuO4
We have addressed the possibility of surface ferromagnetism in Sr2RuO4 by
investigating its surface electronic states by angle-resolved photoemission
spectroscopy (ARPES). By cleaving samples under different conditions and using
various photon energies, we have isolated the surface from the bulk states. A
comparison with band structure calculations indicates that the ARPES data are
most readily explained by a nonmagnetic surface reconstruction.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, RevTex, submitted to Phys. Rev.
- …