Investigation of unoccupied electronic states of LaCoO$_3$ and PrCoO$_3$ using inverse photoemission spectroscopy and GGA + $U$ calculations

TL;DR

This study combines inverse photoemission spectroscopy and GGA+U calculations to analyze unoccupied electronic states in LaCoO$_3$ and PrCoO$_3$, revealing the sensitivity of spectral features to orbital hybridization.

Contribution

It provides a detailed comparison between experimental spectra and theoretical calculations, highlighting the role of Co 3$d$ and O 2$p$ hybridization in these compounds.

Findings

Peak intensity above Fermi level is highly sensitive to orbital hybridization.

Unoccupied states are mainly of Co 3$d$ character with minimal O 2$p$ contribution.

Good agreement between experimental data and GGA+U calculations.

Abstract

The unoccupied electronic states of LaCoO$_3$ and PrCoO$_3$ are studied using room temperature inverse photoemission spectroscopy and \emph{ab initio} GGA+$\emph{U}$ band structure calculations. A fairly good agreement between experiment and theory is obtained. The intensity of the peak just above the Fermi-level is found to be very much sensitive to the hybridization of Co 3$d$ and O 2$p$ orbitals. Moreover, the band just above the Fermi-level is of Co 3$d$ character with little contribution from O 2$p$ states.