Evolution of the electronic structure across the filling-control and bandwidth-control metal-insulator transitions in pyrochlore-type Ru oxides

We have performed photoemission and soft x-ray absorption studies of pyrochlore-type Ru oxides, namely, the filling-control system Sm$_{2-x}$Ca$_x$Ru$_2$O$_7$ and the bandwidth-control system Sm$_{2-x}$Bi$_x$Ru$_2$O$_7$, which show insulator-to-metal transition with increasing Ca and Bi concentration, respectively. Core levels and the O 2$p$ valence band in Sm$_{2-x}$Ca$_x$Ru$_2$O$_7$ show almost the same amount of monotonous upward energy shifts with Ca concentration, which indicates that the chemical potential is shifted downward due to hole doping. The Ru 4$d$ band in Sm$_{2-x}$Ca$_x$Ru$_2$O$_7$ is also shifted toward the Fermi level ($E_F$) with hole doping and the density of states (DOS) at $E_F$ increases. The core levels in Sm$_{2-x}$Bi$_x$Ru$_2$O$_7$, on the other hand, do not show clear energy shifts except for the Ru 3$d$ core level, whose line shape change also reflects the increase of metallic screening with Bi concentration. We observe pronounced spectral weight transfer from the incoherent to the coherent parts of the Ru 4d $t_{2g}$ band with Bi concentration, which is expected for a bandwidth-control Mott-Hubbard system. The increase of the DOS at $E_F$ is more abrupt in the bandwidth-control Sm$_{2-x}$Bi$_x$Ru$_2$O$_7$ than in the filling-control Sm$_{2-x}$Ca$_x$Ru$_2$O$_7$, in accordance with a recent theoretical prediction. Effects of charge transfer between the Bi 6$sp$ band and the Ru 4$d$ band are also discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Modulation Doping of a Mott Quantum Well by a Proximate Polar Discontinuity

We present evidence for hole injection into LaAlO3/LaVO3/LaAlO3 quantum wells near a polar surface of LaAlO3 (001). As the surface is brought in proximity to the LaVO3 layer, an exponential drop in resistance and a decreasing positive Seebeck coefficient is observed below a characteristic coupling length of 10-15 unit cells. We attribute this behavior to a crossover from an atomic reconstruction of the AlO2-terminated LaAlO3 surface to an electronic reconstruction of the vanadium valence. These results suggest a general approach to tunable hole-doping in oxide thin film heterostructures.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Orbital ordering in La0.5_{0.5}Sr1.5_{1.5}MnO4_4 studied by model Hartree-Fock calculation

We have investigated orbital ordering in the half-doped manganite La$_{0.5}$Sr$_{1.5}$MnO$_4$, which displays spin, charge and orbital ordering, by means of unrestricted Hartree-Fock calculations on the multiband $p$-$d$ model. From recent experiment, it has become clear that La$_{0.5}$Sr$_{1.5}$MnO$_4$ exhibits a cross-type $(z^2-x^2/y^2-z^2)$ orbital ordering rather than the widely believed rod-type $(3x^2-r^2/3y^2-r^2)$ orbital ordering. The calculation reveals that cross-type $(z^2-x^2/y^2-z^2)$ orbital ordering results from an effect of in-plane distortion as well as from the relatively long out-of-plane Mn-O distance. For the "Mn$^{4+}$" site, it is shown that the elongation along the c-axis of the MnO$_6$ octahedra leads to an anisotropic charge distribution rather than the isotropic one.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Electronic charges and electric potential at LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces studied by core-level photoemission spectroscopy

We studied LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces for varying LaAlO3 thickness by core-level photoemission spectroscopy. In Ti 2p spectra for conducting "n-type" interfaces, Ti3+ signals appeared, which were absent for insulating "p-type" interfaces. The Ti3+ signals increased with LaAlO3 thickness, but started well below the critical thickness of 4 unit cells for metallic transport. Core-level shifts with LaAlO3 thickness were much smaller than predicted by the polar catastrophe model. We attribute these observations to surface defects/adsorbates providing charges to the interface even below the critical thickness

Evolution of the electronic structure from electron-doped to hole-doped states in the two-dimensional Mott-Hubbard system La1.17-xPbxVS3.17

The filling-controlled metal-insulator transition (MIT) in a two-dimensional Mott-Hubbard system La1.17-xPbxVS3.17 has been studied by photoemission spectroscopy. With Pb substitution x, chemical potential mu abruptly jumps by ~ 0.07 eV between x=0.15 and 0.17, indicating that a charge gap is opened at x ~= 0.16 in agreement with the Mott insulating state of the d2 configuration. When holes or electrons are doped into the Mott insulator of x ~= 0.16, the gap is filled and the photoemission spectral weight at mu, rho(mu), gradually increases in a similar way to the electronic specific heat coefficient, although the spectral weight remains depressed around mu compared to that expected for a normal metal, showing a pseudogap behavior in the metallic samples. The observed behavior of varrho(mu)->0 for x->0.16 is contrasted with the usual picture that the electron effective mass of the Fermi-liquid system is enhanced towards the metal-insulator boundary. With increasing temperature, the gap or the pseudogap is rapidly filled up, and the spectra at T=300 K appears to be almost those of a normal metal. Near the metal-insulator boundary, the spectra around mu are consistent with the formation of a Coulomb gap, suggesting the influence of long-range Coulomb interaction under the structural disorder intrinsic to this system.Comment: 8 pages, 12 figure

Coherent quasi-particles-to-incoherent hole-carriers crossover in underdoped cuprates

In underdoped cuprates, only a portion of the Fermi surface survives as Fermi arcs due to pseudogap opening. In hole-doped La$_{2}$CuO$_4$, we have deduced the "coherence temperature" $T_{coh}$ of quasi-particles on the Fermi arc above which the broadened leading edge position in angle-integrated photoemission spectra is shifted away from the Fermi level and the quasi-particle concept starts to lose its meaning. $T_{coh}$ is found to rapidly increase with hole doping, an opposite behavior to the pseudogap temperature $T^*$. The superconducting dome is thus located below both $T^*$ and $T_{coh}$, indicating that the superconductivity emerges out of the coherent Fermionic quasi-particles on the Fermi arc. $T_{coh}$ remains small in the underdoped region, indicating that incoherent charge carriers originating from the Fermi arc are responsible for the apparently metallic transport at high temperatures

Chemical potential jump between hole- and electron-doped sides of ambipolar high-Tc cuprate

In order to study an intrinsic chemical potential jump between the hole- and electron-doped high-Tc superconductors, we have performed core-level X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) measurements of Y0.38La0.62Ba1.74La0.26Cu3Oy (YLBLCO), into which one can dope both holes and electrons with maintaining the same crystal structure. Unlike the case between the hole-doped system La_2-xSrxCuO4 and the electron-doped system Nd_2-xCexCuO4, we have estimated the true chemical potential jump between the hole- and electron-doped YLBLCO to be ~0.8 eV, which is much smaller than the optical gaps of 1.4-1.7 eV reported for the parent insulating compounds. We attribute the reduced jump to the indirect nature of the charge-excitation gap as well as to the polaronic nature of the doped carriers.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Electronic structure of In1−x_{1-x}Mnx_xAs studied by photoemission spectroscopy: Comparison with Ga1−x_{1-x}Mnx_xAs

We have investigated the electronic structure of the $p$-type diluted magnetic semiconductor In$_{1-x}$Mn$_x$As by photoemission spectroscopy. The Mn 3$d$ partial density of states is found to be basically similar to that of Ga$_{1-x}$Mn$_x$As. However, the impurity-band like states near the top of the valence band have not been observed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy unlike Ga$_{1-x}$Mn$_x$As. This difference would explain the difference in transport, magnetic and optical properties of In$_{1-x}$Mn$_x$As and Ga$_{1-x}$Mn$_x$As. The different electronic structures are attributed to the weaker Mn 3$d$ - As 4$p$ hybridization in In$_{1-x}$Mn$_x$As than in Ga$_{1-x}$Mn$_x$As.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Photoemission Spectral Weight Transfer and Mass Renormalization in the Fermi-Liquid System La1−x_{1-x}Srx_xTiO3+y/2_{3+y/2}

We have performed a photoemission study of La$_{1-x}$Sr$_x$TiO$_{3+y/2}$ near the filling-control metal-insulator transition (MIT) as a function of hole doping. Mass renormalization deduced from the spectral weight and the width of the quasi-particle band around the chemical potential $\mu$ is compared with that deduced from the electronic specific heat. The result implies that, near the MIT, band narrowing occurs strongly in the vicinity of $\mu$. Spectral weight transfer occurs from the coherent to the incoherent parts upon antiferromagnetic ordering, which we associate with the partial gap opening at $\mu$.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Electronic Structure of the Chevrel-Phase Compounds Snx_{x}Mo6_{6}Se7.5_{7.5}: Photoemission Spectroscopy and Band-structure Calculations

We have studied the electronic structure of two Chevrel-phase compounds, Mo$_6$Se$_{7.5}$ and Sn$_{1.2}$Mo$_6$Se$_{7.5}$, by combining photoemission spectroscopy and band-structure calculations. Core-level spectra taken with x-ray photoemission spectroscopy show systematic core-level shifts, which do not obey a simple rigid-band model. The inverse photoemission spectra imply the existence of an energy gap located $\sim 1$ eV above the Fermi level, which is a characteristic feature of the electronic structure of the Chevrel compounds. Quantitative comparison between the photoemission spectra and the band-structure calculations have been made. While good agreement between theory and experiment in the wide energy range was obtained as already reported in previous studies, we found that the high density of states near the Fermi level predicted theoretically due to the Van Hove singularity is considerably reduced in the experimental spectra taken with higher energy resolution than in the previous reports. Possible origins are proposed to explain this observation.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure