Coherent excitations and electron phonon coupling in Ba/EuFe_2As_2 compounds investigated by femtosecond time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

TL;DR

This study uses femtosecond spectroscopy to investigate electron-phonon interactions and coherent lattice vibrations in Ba/EuFe_2As_2 compounds, revealing transient electronic and chemical potential modifications after optical excitation.

Contribution

It provides detailed insights into the coherent phonon modes, electron-phonon coupling strength, and transient chemical potential changes in 122 Fe-pnictide compounds using advanced time-resolved photoemission techniques.

Findings

Identification of three coherent phonon modes at 5.6, 3.3, and 2.6 THz.

Weak electron-phonon coupling quantified by λ<ω^2> between 30 and 70 meV^2.

Transient modulation of the chemical potential induced by coherent phonons.

Abstract

We employed femtosecond time- and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy to analyze the response of the electronic structure of the 122 Fe-pnictide parent compounds Ba/EuFe_2As_2 and optimally doped BaFe_{1.85}Co_{0.15}As_2 near the \Gamma point to femtosecond optical excitation. We identify pronounced changes of the electron population within several 100 meV above and below the Fermi level, which we explain as combination of (i) coherent lattice vibrations, (ii) a hot electron and hole distribution, and (iii) transient modifications of the chemical potential. The response of the three different materials is very similar. In the Fourier transformation of the time-dependent photoemission intensity we identify three modes at 5.6, 3.3, and 2.6 THz. While the highest frequency mode is safely assigned to the A_{1g} mode, the other two modes require a discussion in comparison to literature. The time-dependent evolution of the hot electron distribution follows a simplified description of a transient three temperature model which considers two heat baths of lattice vibrations, which are more weakly and strongly coupled to transiently excited electron population. Still the energy transfer from electrons to the strongly coupled phonons results in a rather weak, momentum-averaged electron-phonon coupling quantified by values for \lambda<\omega^2> between 30 and 70 meV^2. The chemical potential is found to present a transient modulation induced by the coherent phonons. This change in the chemical potential is particularly strong in a two band system like in the 122 Fe-pnictide compounds investigated here due to the pronounced variation of the electrons density of states close to the equilibrium chemical potential.