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Disentangling bulk and surface electronic structure using targeted cleave planes in RuO2

Maria H. Visscher1,2, Sebastian Buchberger2, Bruno Saika2, Shu Mo2, Lea Richter1, Mats Leandersson3, Craig Polley3, Andrew P. Mackenzie1,2, and Phil D. C. King2,*

  • *Contact author: pdk6@st-andrews.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. B 114, 175125 – Published 17 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/sjrs-3fjz

Abstract

Rutile RuO2 has attracted significant interest due to its putative unconventional electronic and magnetic properties and its proximity to superconductivity. However, the measurement and interpretation of its electronic structure have been complicated by a strongly three-dimensional crystal structure. Here, we demonstrate how the preparation of targeted (110) and (100) surfaces via focused-ion-beam-engineered cleaving allows the acquisition of high-quality measurements of the electronic structure using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Our results demonstrate that angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy spectra of RuO2 are, in fact, largely dominated by signatures of distinct surface electronic states. From comparison with density functional theory, we resolve a surface termination-dependent variation of these, and disentangle them from highly-three-dimensional bulk states and surface resonances. Moreover, we find a marked role of the substantial spin-orbit coupling of the Ru 4d orbitals in the surface region, where a breaking of spatial inversion symmetry leads to significant Rashba-type spin splittings of the surface bands.

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Phys. Rev. B 114, 175125– Published 17 September, 2026
  • Received 21 May 2026
  • Revised 19 August 2026
  • Accepted 26 August 2026
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