Bulk electronic structure of superconducting LaRu2P2 single crystals measured by soft x-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

TL;DR

This study uses soft X-ray ARPES to investigate the bulk electronic structure of LaRu2P2, revealing differences from Fe-pnictides and suggesting a distinct superconductivity mechanism.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed bulk electronic structure of LaRu2P2 using SX-ARPES, highlighting differences from Fe-pnictides and emphasizing the importance of probing depth.

Findings

Electronic structure matches DFT calculations

Bandwidth renormalization is negligible in LaRu2P2

Superconductivity likely has a different origin than in Fe-pnictides

Abstract

We present a soft X-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (SX-ARPES) study of the stoichiometric pnictide superconductor LaRu2P2. The observed electronic structure is in good agreement with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. However, it is significantly different from its counterpart in high-temperature superconducting Fe-pnictides. In particular the bandwidth renormalization present in the Fe-pnictides (~2 - 3) is negligible in LaRu2P2 even though the mass enhancement is similar in both systems. Our results suggest that the superconductivity in LaRu2P2 has a different origin with respect to the iron pnictides. Finally we demonstrate that the increased probing depth of SX-ARPES, compared to the widely used ultraviolet ARPES, is essential in determining the bulk electronic structure in the experiment.