Quasiparticle excitations in multi-layer cuprate superconductors

Abstract

Quasiparticle excitations of multi-layer cuprates are studied in the normal phases. The electron-removal spectral functions at (π,0) in the CuO 2 planes nearest and second neighbor to the surface are calculated to understand the angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) spectra. The resonating valence bond wave function and the Gutzwiller approximation are used for a two-dimensional multi-layer t– t ′– t″– J model. We find that the tri-layer spectrum is narrower than the bi-layer spectrum but is wider than the mono-layer spectrum. The recent ARPES experiments are discussed from the theoretical viewpoint.