# The Fermi surface of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8

## Abstract

We study the Fermi surface of Bi<sub>2</sub>Sr<sub>2</sub>CaCu<sub>2</sub>O<sub>8</sub> (Bi2212) using angle resolved photoemission (ARPES) with a momentum resolution of $`0.01`$ of the Brillouin zone. We show that, contrary to recent suggestions, the Fermi surface is a large hole barrel centered at ($`\pi ,\pi `$), independent of the incident photon energy.

The Fermi surface, the locus in momentum space of gapless electronic excitations, is a central concept in the theory of metals. Despite the fact that the optimally doped high temperature superconductors display an anomalous normal state with no well-defined quasiparticles , many angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) studies using photon energies in the range of 19-22 eV have consistently revealed a large hole-like Fermi surface centered at ($`\pi ,\pi `$) with a volume consistent with the Luttinger count of $`(1x)`$ electrons (where $`x`$ is the hole doping). This widely accepted picture has recently been challenged by two studies  which suggest a different Fermi surface when measured at a higher photon energy (32-33 eV). These recent studies propose that the Fermi surface consists of a large electron pocket centered on ($`0,0`$) with a clear violation of the Luttinger count. To reconcile their model with previous data at 22 eV photon energy, these authors suggest the presence of “additional states” near ($`\pi ,0`$), possibly  due to stripe formation. Setting aside for the moment the important question of what the true Fermi surface of Bi2212 is, the implication of a photon energy dependent Fermi surface from ARPES data is particularly worrisome, and deserves to be addressed.

Here, we present extensive ARPES data taken at various photon energies and find clear evidence that the Fermi surface measured by ARPES is independent of photon energy, and consists of a single hole barrel centered at $`(\pi ,\pi )`$. Although the data of Refs.  are consistent with ours, their limited sampling of the Brillouin zone and lower momentum resolution lead to a misinterpretation of the topology of the Fermi surface. This occurs because of the presence of ghost images  of the Fermi surface due to diffraction of the outgoing photoelectrons by a Q vector of $`\pm (0.21\pi ,0.21\pi )`$ associated with the superlattice modulation in the BiO layers (umklapp bands). In particular, in following a Fermi contour, if the data are not dense enough in $`𝐤`$-space, or not of sufficiently high momentum resolution, one can inadvertently “jump” from the main band to one of the umklapp bands, concluding incorrectly that the topology of the Fermi surface is electron-like. This is particularly relevant at the photon energy of 33eV because of a strong suppression of the ARPES matrix elements at k points in the vicinity of ($`\pi ,0`$), a final state effect, resulting in a large umklapp/main band signal ratio near ($`0.8\pi ,0`$) where the purported electron Fermi surface crossing occurs.

ARPES probes the occupied part of the electron spectrum, and for quasi-2D systems its intensity $`I(𝐤,\omega )`$ is proportional to the square of the dipole matrix element, the Fermi function $`f(\omega )`$, and the one-electron spectral function $`A(𝐤,\omega )`$ . The measured energy distribution curve (EDC) is obtained by the convolution of this intensity with experimental resolution. In another paper, we discuss in great detail the various methodologies for determining the Fermi surface from ARPES data. Here, we look at two quantities: (1) the dispersion of spectral peaks obtained from the energy distribution curves, and (2) the ARPES intensity integrated over a narrow energy range about the Fermi energy. As we will show, these methods must be treated with care because of the $`𝐤`$ dependence of the matrix elements and the presence of the umklapp bands.

The ARPES experiments were performed at the Synchrotron Radiation Center, Wisconsin, using a plane grating monochromator beamline with a resolving power of 10<sup>4</sup> at 10<sup>12</sup> photons/s, combined with a SCIENTA-200 electron analyser used in angle resolved mode. A typical measurement involved the simultaneous collection and energy/momentum discrimination of electrons over a $`12^{}`$ range (cut) with an angular resolution window of $`(0.5^{},0.26^{})`$ ($`0.26^{}`$ parallel to the cut). This corresponds to a momentum resolution of (0.038,0.020)$`\pi `$, (0.029,0.015)$`\pi `$, and (0.022,0.012)$`\pi `$ at 55, 33, and 22 eV respectively. The energy resolution for all data was $``$16 meV (FWHM).

The quality of the optimally doped single crystal samples cannot be emphasized enough, particularly in regards to the flatness of the surface after cleave. A change of 1$`\mu `$m in height over the width of the sample is readily detectable as a broadening of the spectral features, and therefore care was exercised in studying very flat samples with sharp x-ray diffraction rocking curves. Reference spectra were collected from polycrystalline Au (in electrical contact with the sample) and used to determine the chemical potential (zero binding energy).

To begin we look at data, Fig. 1, taken on an optimally doped Bi2212 sample ($`T_c`$=90K), measured at T=40K at 33eV. The light polarization was parallel to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$X (we use the notation $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$=($`0,0`$), X=($`\pi ,\pi `$), Y=($`\pi ,\pi `$) and M=($`\pi ,0`$), with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$Y parallel to the superlattice modulation) and EDCs were collected on a regular lattice of k points ($`\delta k_x=1^{}`$, $`\delta k_y=0.26^{}`$). We first examine spectra along the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$Y direction. The EDCs are shown in the middle panel of Fig. 1, and the left panel shows a two dimensional plot of the energy and momentum distribution of the photoelectrons along the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$Y cut. A strong main band (MB) and additional umklapp bands (UB) can be observed in this plot. Around ($`0,0`$), there is a weaker pair of higher order umklapps (UB(2) corresponding to a translation of $`\pm (0.42,0.42)\pi `$) as observed previously , which confirms the diffraction origin of the umklapp bands. Along this cut, we also see the ($`\pi ,\pi `$) translation of the main band, the so-called shadow band (SB) , which is probably  associated with the two formula units per base orthorhombic unit cell. Fig. 1c shows the integrated intensity within a $`\pm `$100 meV window about the chemical potential. We note the very rapid suppression of intensity beyond $`0.8\mathrm{\Gamma }`$M , which does not occur at 22eV. This is what led the authors of Refs.  to suggest the existence of an electron-like Fermi surface with a crossing at this point. As first discussed in an earlier paper, and addressed in greater detail here, we will demonstrate that instead, this crossing is due to one of the umklapp bands. This umklapp crossing is more obvious at 33 eV, since, unlike at 22 eV, the main band intensity is suppressed by matrix element effects.

To examine this issue more closely, we measured another optimally doped sample ($`T_c`$=90K, T=40K) with 33eV photons polarized parallel to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$M, shown in Fig. 2, with the same high density of k-points as for the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$X oriented sample. The integrated intensity at E<sub>F</sub> is similar to the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$X oriented sample in that there is an ‘apparent’ closed Fermi surface around ($`0,0`$), indicated by an arrow in Fig. 2b. However, on closer inspection of the ($`\pi ,0`$) region, we see what is truly occuring. Fig. 2c shows slices parallel to MY from the plot of Fig. 2b. The main band (MB), indicated by the short black bars, continues to run parallel to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$M, but its intensity is heavily suppressed near M. In addition, the ($`+`$) umklapp band, indicated by red bars, splits away from the main band, disperses towards M, and dies in intensity. A transposed version of this occurs beyond M with the ($``$) umklapp, indicated in blue. Similar behaviour is also seen at the M point at the top of Fig. 2b (slices not shown) and in the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$X oriented sample of Fig. 1c.

It is easy to see how sparse data at lower resolution can easily lead one to miss the suppressed main band crossing along MY at 33eV. Fig. 2d shows a plot similar to the one in Fig. 2c, but at a resolution of (0.11,0.11)$`\pi `$ \- the same as that used in Ref. \- instead of (0.029,0.015)$`\pi `$ in Fig. 2c. Clearly, it is no longer possible to distinguish the umklapp from the main band (MB), and one might wrongly suppose that the Fermi surface curves around to cross the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$M line. But we emphasize again that such a supposition is only a result of sparse data, and not of any inherent differences in experimental results. It is worth noting that in the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$X oriented sample (Fig. 1c) we can see a weak signal corresponding to the main band MY Fermi crossing, which becomes stronger at 22eV. Therefore, if quantities based on integrated intensity are used to define the Fermi surface, one may falsely infer a crossing along $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$M due to the ($`+`$) umklapp band, as indicated in Fig. 2d.

The presence of the umklapps can also explain the origin of the asymmetry in the underlying intensity plot at M in Fig. 2b. At 33eV the ARPES signal from the main band is strongly suppressed near M due to the matrix elements, but since the umklapps are translated by $`\pm (0.21,0.21)\pi `$, we get a diagonal-like suppression of the total signal near M. This can be appreciated by looking at the dashed segments of the overlay on Fig. 2b. That is, the umklapp signal at $`𝐤`$ is comparable in intensity to the main band signal at $`𝐤\pm 𝐐`$, as expected if the umklapp is simply a diffraction of the outgoing photoelectrons by the BiO superlattice.

According to this picture, when moving along $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$M, there should be a crossover from the ($`+`$) to ($``$) umklapp, and this is in fact seen in the raw data. Fig. 3 show extensive EDCs taken in cuts parallel to MY at k-points along $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$M for 33 eV. In most of these plots, the main band (crossing shown by a black square) is the strongest signal and the $`\pm `$ umklapps (crossings shown as black and white arrows) are a weaker signal superimposed near the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$M line. A constant offset has been used in the figures so that the umklapp crossings appear as a “bunching” of the spectra. Going from $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ to M we see, in the following order, the ($``$) umklapp (white arrow), the ($`+`$) umklapp (black arrow) which disappears at ($`\pi ,0`$), and finally the reappearance of the ($``$) umklapp (white arrow). We find that the dispersion of all the main and umklapp signals are consistent with the tight binding fit to the dispersion at 19-22eV . The difference is that at 22eV , the suppression of the signal at ($`\pi ,0`$) is weaker, and the MY crossing of the main band is clearer.

In Fig. 4a, we show an intensity map from the sample of Fig. 1, but at 55 eV photon energy. From this intensity plot, one can clearly see the main Fermi surface and its two umklapp images, and the correlation of this image with a single large hole surface around $`(\pi ,\pi )`$ together with its predicted umklapp images (Fig. 4b) is striking.

In conclusion, we find that the Fermi surface of Bi2212 is a single hole barrel centered at $`(\pi ,\pi )`$, a result which we find to be independent of photon energy. Rather, we have demonstrated that the unusual intensity variation observed by previous authors at 33 eV is caused by a combination of matrix element effects and the presence of umklapp bands caused by the diffraction of the photoelectrons from the BiO superlattice.

This work was supported by the US National Science Foundation, grants DMR 9624048, and DMR 91-20000 through the NSF Science and Technology Center for Superconductivity, the US Dept of Energy Basic Energy Sciences, under contract W-31-109-ENG-38, the CREST of JST, and the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan. The Synchrotron Radiation Center is supported by the NSF grant DMR-9212658. M.R. was supported in part by the Indian DST through the Swarnajayanti scheme.