Title: Low work function in the 122-family of iron-based superconductors

Journal Article · · Physical Review Materials
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [3];  [3];  [5];  [5];  [6];  [4]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Science (SIMES); SLAC/Stanford University
  2. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Science (SIMES); Tel Aviv Univ., Ramat Aviv (Israel)
  3. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Science (SIMES); Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Geballe Lab. for Advanced Materials
  4. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Science (SIMES)
  5. Nanjing Univ. (China)
  6. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Science (SIMES); Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Geballe Lab. for Advanced Materials and Dept. of Physics

Herein we determine the work functions of the iron arsenic compounds AFe2As2 ( A=Ca,Ba,Cs ) using photoemission spectroscopy to be 2.7 eV for CaFe2As2 , 1.8 eV for BaFe2As2 , and 1.3 eV for CsFe2As2 . The work functions of these 122 iron-based superconductors track those of the elementary metal A but are substantially smaller. The most likely explanation of this observation is that the cleaving surface exposes only half an A -layer. The low work function and good photoemission cross section of BaFe2As2 and CsFe2As2 enable photoemission even from a common white LED light.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; Gabilan Stanford Graduate Fellowship; German Science Foundation (DFG); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1605595
Journal Information:
Physical Review Materials, Journal Name: Physical Review Materials Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 4; ISSN PRMHAR; ISSN 2475-9953
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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