Out-of-plane nesting driven spin spiral in ultrathin Fe/Cu(001) films

Epitaxial ultrathin Fe films on fcc Cu(001) exhibit a spin spiral (SS), in contrast to the ferromagnetism of bulk bcc Fe. We study the in-plane and out-of-plane Fermi surfaces (FSs) of the SS in 8 monolayer Fe/Cu(001) films using energy dependent soft x-ray momentum-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We show that the SS originates in nested regions confined to out-of-plane FSs, which are drastically modified compared to in-plane FSs. From precise reciprocal space maps in successive zones, we obtain the associated real space compressive strain of 1.5+-0.5% along c-axis. An autocorrelation analysis quantifies the incommensurate ordering vector q=(2pi/a)(0,0,~0.86), favoring a SS and consistent with magneto-optic Kerr effect experiments. The results reveal the importance of in-plane and out-of-plane FS mapping for ultrathin films.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Temperature-dependent soft x-ray photoemission and absorption studies of charge disproportionation in La1−x_{1-x}Srx_xFeO3_3

We have measured the temperature dependence of the photoemission and x-ray absorption spectra of La$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$FeO$_3$ (LSFO) epitaxial thin films with $x=0.67$, where charge disproportionation ($3{Fe}^{3.67+}\to 2{Fe}^{3+}+ {Fe}^{5+}$) resulting in long-range spin and charge ordering is known to occur below $T_{CD}=190$ K. With decreasing temperature we observed gradual changes of the spectra with spectral weight transfer over a wide energy range of $\sim 5$ eV. Above $T_{CD}$ the intensity at the Fermi level ($E_F$) was relatively high compared to that below $T_{CD}$ but still much lower than that in conventional metals. We also found a similar temperature dependence for $x=0.4$, and to a lesser extent for $x=0.2$. These observations suggest that a local charge disproportionation occurs not only in the $x=0.67$ sample below $T_{CD}$ but also over a wider temperature and composition range in LSFO. This implies that the tendency toward charge disproportionation may be the origin of the unusually wide insulating region of the LSFO phase diagram.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figure

Layer dependent band dispersion and correlations using tunable Soft X-ray ARPES

Soft X-ray Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy is applied to study in-plane band dispersions of Nickel as a function of probing depth. Photon energies between 190 and 780 eV were used to effectively probe up to 3-7 layers. The results show layer dependent band dispersion of the Delta_2 minority-spin band which crosses the Fermi level in 3 or more layers, in contrast to known top 1-2 layers dispersion obtained using ultra-violet rays. The layer dependence corresponds to an increased value of exchange splitting and suggests reduced correlation effects in the bulk compared to the surface.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures Revised text and figur

Collapse of the charge ordering gap of Nd_{0.5}Sr_{0.5}MnO_{3} in an applied magnetic field

We report results of tunneling studies on the charge ordering compound Nd_{0.5}Sr_{0.5}MnO_{3} in a magnetic field up to 6T and for temperature down to 25K.We show that a gap (2\Delta_{CO} \approx 0.5eV opens up in the density of state (DOS) at the Fermilevel (E_F) on charge ordering (T_{CO}=150K) which collapses in an applied magnetic field when the charge ordered state melts. There is a clear correspondence between the behavior of the resistivity and the gap formation and its collapse in an applied magnetic field. We conclude that a gap in the DOS at E_F is necessary for the stability of the charge ordered state.Comment: 4 pages REVTeX, 5 postscript figures included, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Three-dimensional bulk band dispersion in polar BiTeI with giant Rashba-type spin splitting

In layered polar semiconductor BiTeI, giant Rashba-type spin-split band dispersions show up due to the crystal structure asymmetry and the strong spin-orbit interaction. Here we investigate the 3-dimensional (3D) bulk band structures of BiTeI using the bulk-sensitive $h\nu$-dependent soft x-ray angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (SX-ARPES). The obtained band structure is shown to be well reproducible by the first-principles calculations, with huge spin splittings of ${\sim}300$ meV at the conduction-band-minimum and valence-band-maximum located in the $k_z=\pi/c$ plane. It provides the first direct experimental evidence of the 3D Rashba-type spin splitting in a bulk compound.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Revisiting the valence-band and core-level photoemission spectra of NiO

We have re-examined the valence-band (VB) and core-level electronic structure of NiO by means of hard and soft x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (PES). The spectral weight of the lowest energy state found to be enhanced in the bulk sensitive Ni 2p core-level PES. A configuration-interaction model including the bound state screening has shown significant agreement with the core-level spectra, and the off and on-resonance VB spectra. These results identify the lowest energy state in core-level and VB-PES as the Zhang-Rice doublet bound state, consistent with the spin-fermion model and recent ab initio calculation with dynamical mean-field theory (LDA + DMFT).Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Evidence for mass renormalization in LaNiO$"" sub 3_: an in situ soft x-ray photoemission study of epitaxial films

We investigate the electronic structure of high-quality single-crystal LaNiO$_3$ (LNO) thin films using in situ photoemission spectroscopy (PES). The in situ high-resolution soft x-ray PES measurements on epitaxial thin films reveal the intrinsic electronic structure of LNO. We find a new sharp feature in the PES spectra crossing the Fermi level, which is derived from the correlated Ni 3$d$ $e_g$ electrons. This feature shows significant enhancement of spectral weight with decreasing temperature. From a detailed analysis of resistivity data, the enhancement of spectral weight is attributed to increasing electron correlations due to antiferromagnetic fluctuations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. submitted to Phys. Rev.