Emergence of low-energy electronic states in oxygen-controlled Mott insulator Ca$_{2}$RuO$_{4+\delta}$

TL;DR

This study directly observes the emergence of Fermi surface and insulator-to-metal transition in oxygen-doped Ca$_{2}$RuO$_{4}$, revealing orbital-selective metallization and differences from other ruthenates.

Contribution

First direct ARPES observation of Fermi surface in oxygen-controlled Ca$_{2}$RuO$_{4}$, showing orbital-selective transition and spectral-weight transfer.

Findings

Fermi surface emerges with excess oxygen.

Insulator-to-metal transition is orbital-selective.

Distinct Fermi surface features compared to other ruthenates.

Abstract

Insulator-to-metal transition in Ca$_{2}$RuO$_{4}$ has drawn keen attention because of its sensitivity to various stimulation and its potential controllability. Here, we report a direct observation of Fermi surface, which emerges upon introducing excess oxygen into an insulating Ca$_{2}$RuO$_{4}$, by using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Comparison between energy distribution curves shows that the Mott insulating gap is closed by eV-scale spectral-weight transfer with excess oxygen. Momentum-space mapping exhibits two square-shaped sheets of the Fermi surface. One is a hole-like $\alpha$ sheet around the corner of a tetragonal Brillouin zone, and the other is an electron-like $\beta$ sheet around the $\Gamma$ point. The electron occupancies of the $\alpha$ and $\beta$ bands are determined to be $n_{\alpha}=1.6$ and $n_{\beta}=0.6$, respectively. Our result indicates that the insulator-to-metal transition occurs selectively in $d_{xz}$ and $d_{yz}$ bands and not yet in $d_{xy}$ band. This orbital selectivity is most likely explained in terms of the energy level of $d_{xy}$, which is deeper for Ca$_{2}$RuO$_{4+\delta}$ than for Ca$_{1.8}$Sr$_{0.2}$RuO$_{4}$. Consequently, we found substantial differences from the Fermi surface of other ruthenates, shedding light on a unique role of excess oxygen among the metallization methods of Ca$_{2}$RuO$_{4}$.