Structural instability at the In-terminated surface of the heavy-fermion superconductor CeIrIn5

• Driven by reconstruction and relaxation, by the appearance of surface electron states and resonances, the surface properties and related temperature scales of strongly correlated f-materials may differ dramatically from those in the bulk. Applying low energy electron and photoelectron diffraction techniques, momentum-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations, we demonstrate that the In-terminated surface of the heavyfermion superconductor CeIrIn5 experiences a reconstruction with a (root 2v x root 2)R45 degrees ordered structure. The latter appears due to the displacement of In atoms with respect to the Ir sublattice. We show that the electronic structure and related properties of the reconstructed In surface differ remarkably from the unreconstructed case. Namely, the predicted surface states with Rashba-type spin splitting do not appear. Our results suggest surface instabilities in similar quasi-two-dimensional strongly correlated f-materials, for which surface reconstructions can be unveiled by means of diffraction techniques.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi -- Materialkemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences -- Materials Chemistry (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Annan fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Other Physics Topics (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Den kondenserade materiens fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Condensed Matter Physics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Electronic structure

Ab initio calculations

Photoelectron diffraction

Atomic structure

Heavy fermion

Surface state

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)