Pseudogaps and Extrinsic Losses in Photoemission Experiments on Poorly Conducting Solids

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that ohmic energy losses experienced by photoelectrons after emission can significantly distort photoemission spectra in poorly conducting and anisotropic materials, potentially mimicking pseudogap features.

Contribution

It reveals the importance of extrinsic ohmic losses in photoemission experiments on certain low-conductivity and anisotropic materials, affecting spectral interpretation.

Findings

Extrinsic losses can mimic pseudogap effects.

Losses are significant in low-conductivity and anisotropic materials.

Photoelectron energy changes mainly occur after emission.

Abstract

It is shown that a photoelectron, on being emitted from a conducting solid, suffers a substantial energy change due to ohmic losses. Almost all of this energy loss takes place after the electron leaves the solid. These losses may be important in isotropic materials with relatively low conductivity, such as certain colossal magnetoresistance manganates, and in very electrically anisotropic materials such as high-T_c superconductors and 1-D conductors. In these materials, the electric field of the photoelectron can penetrate the system. These losses can drastically affect the observed lineshape on the meV scale which is now observable due to improved resolution. In particular, extrinsic losses of this type can mimic pseudogap effects and other peculiar features of photoemission in cubic manganates. This general point is illustrated with the particular case of La_{0.67}Ca_{0.33}MnO_3.