Accessing surface Brillouin zone and band structure of picene single crystals

TL;DR

This study experimentally characterizes the band structure and surface Brillouin zone of insulating picene single crystals using UPS and LEED, revealing key electronic properties relevant for organic superconductors.

Contribution

The paper provides the first detailed experimental mapping of the surface Brillouin zone and band structure of picene single crystals, including effective mass and mobility measurements.

Findings

Hole effective mass of 2.24 m_0

Hole mobility >= 9.0 cm^2/Vs at 298 K

Pristine UPS works for high-quality organic SCs

Abstract

We have experimentally revealed the band structure and the surface Brillouin zone of insulating picene single crystals (SCs), the mother organic system for a recently discovered aromatic superconductor, with ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) and low-energy electron diffraction with laser for photoconduction. A hole effective mass of 2.24 m_0 and the hole mobility mu_h >= 9.0 cm^2/Vs (298 K) were deduced in Gamma-Y direction. We have further shown that some picene SCs did not show charging during UPS even without the laser, which indicates that pristine UPS works for high-quality organic SCs.