Fermi Surface and Anisotropic Spin-Orbit Coupling of Sb(111) Studied by Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy

Abstract

High-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy has been performed on Sb(111) to elucidate the origin of anomalous electronic properties in group-V semimetal surfaces. The surface was found to be metallic despite the semimetallic character of bulk. We clearly observed two surface-derived Fermi surfaces which are likely spin split, demonstrating that the spin-orbit interaction plays a dominant role in characterizing the surface electronic states of group-V semimetals. The universality or dissimilarity of the electronic structure in Bi and Sb is discussed in relation to the granular superconductivity, electron-phonon coupling, and surface charge or spin density wave.