Electronic Structure of Transition Metal Dichalcogenides PdTe2 and Cu0.05PdTe2 Superconductors Obtained by Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution ARPES to analyze the electronic structures of PdTe2 and Cu0.05PdTe2, revealing electron doping effects and complex Fermi surface topology, which are crucial for understanding their superconductivity.

Contribution

First detailed ARPES analysis of PdTe2 and Cu0.05PdTe2, showing how Cu intercalation affects electronic structure and superconductivity.

Findings

Cu intercalation causes electron doping and shifts band structure downward by ~16 meV.

Revealed complex multi-band Fermi surface topology of PdTe2 and Cu0.05PdTe2.

Established a foundation for further research on these superconductors.

Abstract

The layered transition metal chalcogenides have been a fertile land in solid state physics for many decades. Various MX2-type transition metal dichalcogenides, such as WTe2, IrTe2, and MoS2, have triggered great attention recently, either for the discovery of novel phenomena or some extreme or exotic physical properties, or for their potential applications. PdTe2 is a superconductor in the class of transition metal dichalcogenides, and superconductivity is enhanced in its Cu-intercalated form, Cu0.05PdTe2. It is important to study the electronic structures of PdTe2 and its intercalated form in order to explore for new phenomena and physical properties and understand the related superconductivity enhancement mechanism. Here we report systematic high resolution angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) studies on PdTe2 and Cu0.05$PdTe2 single crystals, combined with the band structure calculations. We present for the first time in detail the complex multi-band Fermi surface topology and densely-arranged band structure of these compounds. By carefully examining the electronic structures of the two systems, we find that Cu-intercalation in PdTe2 results in electron-doping, which causes the band structure to shift downwards by nearly 16 meV in Cu0.05PdTe2. Our results lay a foundation for further exploration and investigation on PdTe2 and related superconductors.