Measuring spin-polarized electronic states of quantum materials: 2H−NbSe2

Abstract

Probing the energy and spin electron properties of materials by means of photoemission spectroscopy gives insights into the low-energy phenomena of matter driven by spin orbit coupling or exchange interaction. The information that can be derived from complete photoelectron spectroscopy experiments, beyond $E$(k), is contained in the photoemission transition matrix elements that determine peak intensities. We present here a complete photoemission study of the spin-polarized bands of $2H\text{\ensuremath{-}}{\mathrm{NbSe}}_{2}$, a material that presents a surface spin-texture. Circular dichroism in angular-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (CD-ARPES) data are compared with spin-polarized angular-resolved spectra (SARPES) as measured with linearly polarized radiation in a well-characterized experimental chirality, at selected photon energy values. CD-ARPES is due to a matrix element effect that depends strongly on photon energy and experimental geometry: we show that it cannot be used to infer intrinsic spin properties in $2H\text{\ensuremath{-}}{\mathrm{NbSe}}_{2}$. On the other hand, SARPES data provide reliable direct information on the spin properties of the electron states. The results on $2H\text{\ensuremath{-}}{\mathrm{NbSe}}_{2}$ are discussed, and general methodological conclusions are drawn on the best experimental approach to the determination of the spin texture of quantum materials.