Charge-density-wave partial gap opening in quasi-2D KMo6O17 purple bronze studied by angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy

Abstract

Low dimensional (LD) metallic oxides have been a subject of continuous interest in the last two decades, mainly due to the electronic instabilities that they present at low temperatures. In particular, charge density waves (CDW) instabilities associated with a strong electron-phonon interaction have been found in Molybdenum metallic oxides such as KMo 6 O 17 purple bronze. We report an angle resolved photoemission (ARPES) study from room temperature (RT) to T ∼440 K well below the Peierls transition temperature for this material, with CDW transition temperature T CDW ∼120 K. We have focused on photoemission spectra along ΓM high symmetry direction as well as photoemission measurements were taken as a function of temperature at one representative k F point in the Brillouin zone in order to look for the characteristic gap opening after the phase transition. We found out a pseudogap opening and a decrease in the density of states near the Fermi energy, E F , consistent with the partial removal of the nested portions of the Fermi surface (FS) at temperature below the CDW transition. In order to elucidate possible Fermi liquid (FL) or non-Fermi liquid (NFL) behaviour we have compared the ARPES data with that one reported on quasi-lD K 0.3 MoO 3 blue bronze.