INTERLAYER COUPLING AND THE METAL-INSULATOR TRANSITION IN Pr-SUBSTITUTED Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+y)

TL;DR

This study investigates how Pr substitution in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+y affects electronic structure and induces a metal-insulator transition, revealing interlayer coupling and localization effects through resonant photoemission analysis.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the electronic structure changes and interlayer coupling mechanisms responsible for the metal-insulator transition caused by Pr substitution.

Findings

No significant difference in Cu-density of states between superconducting and insulating samples.

Presence of a mobility gap due to carrier localization, not a bandgap.

Evidence of interlayer coupling between Pr and CuO2 plane states.

Abstract

Substitution of rare-earth ions for Ca in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+y is known to cause a metal-insulator transition. Using resonant photoemission we study how this chemical substitution affects the electronic structure of the material. For the partial Cu-density of states at E_F and in the region of the valence band we observe no significant difference between a pure superconducting sample and an insulating sample with 60% Pr for Ca. This suggests that the states responsible for superconductivity are predomi- nately O-states. The partial Pr-4f density of states was extracted utilizing the Super- Koster-Kronig Pr 4d-4f resonance. It consists of a single peak at 1.36eV binding energy. The peak shows a strongly assymetric Doniach-Sunjic line- shape indicating the presence of a continuum of electronic states with sharp cut off at E_F even in this insulating sample. This finding excludes a bandgap in the insulating sample and supports the existance of a mobility gap caused by spatial localization of the carriers. The presence of such carriers at the Pr-site, between the CuO_2 planes shows that the electronic structure is not purely 2-dimensional but that there is a finite interlayer coupling. The resonance enhancement of the photoemission cross section, at the Pr-4d threshold, was studied for the Pr-4f and for Cu-states. Both the Pr-4f and the Cu-states show a Fano-like resonance. This resonance of Cu-states with Pr-states is another indication of coupling between the the Pr-states and those in the CuO_2 plane. Because of the statistical distribution of the Pr-ions this coupling leads to a non-periodic potential for the states in the CuO_2 plane which can lead to localization and thus to the observed metal-insulator transition.