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Surface preparation method for investigating the three-dimensional electronic structure of perovskite nickelates

Yong Zhong1,2,*, Kyuho Lee1,3,†, Regan Bhatta4, Yu Zhang4, Yonghun Lee1,3, Martin Gonzalez1,3, Jiarui Li1,3, Ruohan Wang1,2, Makoto Hashimoto5 et al.

Donghui Lu5, Sung-Kwan Mo6, Chunjing Jia4, Harold Y. Hwang1,2, and Zhi-Xun Shen1,2,3,‡

  • *Contact author: ylzhong@stanford.edu
  • †This author contributed equally to this work.
  • ‡Contact author: zxshen@stanford.edu
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Phys. Rev. B 112, 035160 – Published 23 July, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/wcm1-rrc5

Abstract

The investigation of the electronic structures on perovskite oxides using surface-sensitive spectroscopy techniques is often hindered by their “uncleavable” nature, typically requiring expensive and complex in situ experimental setups that integrate the capabilities of sample synthesis and spectroscopy measurement under ultrahigh vacuum condition. Here, we address this challenge by developing an ozone-annealing process that yields atomically flat surfaces on perovskite oxide thin films, making them suitable for high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements. Using this method, we present a three-dimensional electronic structure study of Nd1−xSrxNiO3 (x=0 and 0.175) thin films with unprecedented accuracy. The experimentally determined low-energy fermiology exhibits quantitative agreements with two-band tight-binding simulations, which is further validated by first-principles calculations considering the material's actual crystal structure. This work provides an accessible approach for ex situ ARPES measurements on perovskite oxides and other strongly correlated oxides, including the recently discovered high-Tc nickelates.

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Phys. Rev. B 112, 035160– Published 23 July, 2025
  • Received 20 May 2025
  • Accepted 27 June 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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