Electronic structure of EuAl studied by photoelectron spectroscopy

Kobata, Masaaki  ; Fujimori, Shinichi   ; Takeda, Yukiharu   ; Okane, Tetsuo  ; Saito, Yuji  ; Kobayashi, Keisuke*; Yamagami, Hiroshi; Nakamura, Ai*; Hedo, Masato*; Nakama, Takao*; Onuki, Yoshichika*

The electronic structure of a divalent compound EuAl, which shows the charge density wave transition at , was studied by the hard X-ray angle-integrated photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) and the soft X-ray angle resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES). The valence band and core-level spectra obtained by the HAXPES are consistent with the divalent nature of Eu atoms in EuAl. Furthermore, the Fermi surface as well as the band structure in the vicinity of the Fermi Energy () of EuAl are very similar to those of its isostructural divalent compound SrAl, which does not have electrons. These suggest that Eu atoms are divalent in EuAl, and electrons are completely localized with electronic configuration in the ground state. The ARPES spectra measured along the --Z high-symmetry line did not show significant temperature dependences above and below within the energy resolution of . Moreover, the Fermi surface mapping along the direction showed that both of EuAl and SrAl have highly three-dimensional electronic structures, suggesting that the nesting of Fermi surface is not straightforward. The Fermi surface and band structure of SrAl were well explained by the band-structure calculation based on the local density approximation.