Probing the valence band structure of Cu2O using high-energy angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy

We present angle-resolved photoemission data along the M-Gamma-M direction from a Cu2O(111) single crystal, collected at high photon energies (h nu=619 and 891 eV) and T=100 K. Because of the high photon energies and effective background subtraction, our data give a clear picture of the bulk band structure. The results confirm the existence of a hybridized Cu 3d-Cu 4s state located between the two main Cu 3d and O 2p band regions. Several theoretical studies have predicted the existence of this band, but until now it has not been detected in any photoemission measurements. The experimentally derived band structure is compared to local density approximation calculations with and without the Hubbard potential U. The clear band dispersion in our experimental data has enabled us to extract a refined Hubbard U value, which makes it possible to achieve a better agreement between theoretically calculated bands and experimental data.